The family of an Adelaide woman who was murdered in her workplace in 1993 have confronted her killer in court.
Suzanne Poll, 36, was stabbed to death in a "ferocious" manner while she worked alone in the Salisbury Sands & McDougall stationery shop on the night of April 29, 1993.
It was Mrs Poll's husband, Darryl, who found his wife's body in the store after she failed to return home from work.
In 2019 — 26 years after Mrs Poll's death — Matthew Donald Tilley, 49, was charged with her murder.
He was found guilty last December.The Supreme Court previously heard Ms Poll was believed to have been killed in what the prosecutors alleged was an intended robbery of the store, with police able to link Tilley's DNA from a discarded coffee cup to blood found at the scene.
On Thursday, Ms Poll's husband Darryl, her children Melissa and Adam, and two of her sisters, Barbara Taylor and Janice Schultz, read their victim impact statements to the court.
Melissa Poll addressed Tilley directly.
"Matthew Donald Tilley. So that's your name? Now I get to see your face, the last face that my mum saw before you decided to wipe her from the universe," she said.
"Why did you kill my mum? If it was money, she would have given it to you, you could have taken it and ran.
"The woman you killed was my mum, my heart and my soul. You didn't just take her life, you took a piece of everyone's life who knew her.
Ms Poll's daughter told the court of her lifelong struggles with debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder, trust issues, and multiple suicide attempts.
"Whatever time you serve in jail will never be enough," she said.
Ms Poll's younger son, Adam Poll, was six at the time of his mother's death and told the court he was bullied at school after the incident.
"Kids would tease me saying 'your mum got stabbed','" he said.
"I never cried as a kid to grieve my mum … I used to cut myself and slept in bed with my dad until I was almost a teenager."
He told the court he developed rage issues because of his trauma, often suffered from debilitating anxiety, and had recently been prescribed antidepressant medication.
Ms Poll's husband a 'broken man'
Multiple family members described Ms Poll's husband, Darryl, as a "broken man" who was still devastated by the loss of his wife.
Reading a statement on his behalf, his current wife Vickie Poll said his grief continued unabated.
"After nearly 29 years it took all the strength he had to relive and appear in court to hear the evidence. Darryl is a broken man," she said.
"The struggle over the years has been devastating to watch, it's taken its toll on him to no end.
"He was a 31-year-old happily married man with two small children.
"He didn't have a care in the world … but on the 29th April, 1993, you chose to take that away from him.
"How could you ever get your head around something like that?
"How do you explain to your children: 'Mummy's not coming back'?'"
Ms Poll's sister Barbara Taylor cried as she read statements on behalf of herself and their other sister, Janice Schultz.
"Sue was generous, caring, always smiling, and a loving wife and mother," Ms Taylor said.
"She never had a harsh word about anyone."
Ms Taylor said she was the "last family member to hug and kiss her goodnight".
"Not only did I lose a sister, but an irreplaceable friend … To this day I can't understand how someone could be so vicious towards someone they didn't even know," she said.
"She deserved to grow old as a loving grandmother, not die alone under such horrific circumstances."
Finally, addressing Tilley directly, Ms Taylor said:
"You had a choice, and this one left a lifetime of helplessness, sadness and anxiety for so many people."
Tilley maintains innocence
Tilley's defence lawyer, Jane Abbey, told the court that her client still maintained his innocence.
Ms Abbey tendered a letter from Tilley's ex-wife as evidence of his good character, telling the court they had a "loving and respectful relationship" and that Tilley had maintained steady employment and was a "contributing member of society".
She asked Justice David Peek to take into consideration Tilley's age and potential for rehabilitation when sentencing him.
But prosecutor Carmen Matteo urged Justice Peek to impose the maximum non-parole period, citing Tilley's "lack of contrition".
"That commenced at the time of the killing when the defendant fled and left Mrs Poll dead or dying," she said.
"He has to have disposed of the weapon, he has to have concealed some injuries to himself, and he has apparently … calmly gone on with his life."
Justice Peek said he could "not see any reason to set a non-parole period of less than 20 years."
Tilley will return to court for sentencing at a later date.
