‘It was always mum and I — he was never a role model as a father’

DANIEL Boyd refused to call his killer father “Dad” as he spoke to the court at a sentencing hearing today, labelling him an “evil narcissist”.

Tina Kontozis and her son Daniel.

A YOUNG man looked his killer father in the eye and called him an “evil narcissist” as he told a court of the pain of losing his mother to murder.

Daniel Boyd had feared Stephen Boyd since his early teens. Instead of a father, he viewed him as a cold, controlling figure.

“It was always mum and I — he was never a role model as a father. In my eyes, he is and always will be an evil narcissist,” the 19-year-old told his father’s sentencing hearing at the NSW Supreme Court today.

His mother Despina Kontozis, known as Tina, was brutally attacked by her partner with a cricket bat and stabbed numerous times with up to three knives in her Bundeena home on April 24, 2016.

Their son looked directly at his father when he spoke about him being an evil narcissist, later only referring to him as “the offender”.

Wearing a white ribbon lapel to signify the stand against domestic violence, the teenager told how his life changed forever the day his mother was viciously taken from him.

Daniel Boyd bravely gave a victim impact statement in court.

He feared going to bed at night for fear of the nightmares and was anxious the doors were always locked. The only relief he felt was that his mother, who spent years living in fear of her former partner, was now free.

“You may have taken my mother away from me forever but you cannot take my memories,” he said.

He said he would always remember the things she loved to do. “My mum loved to dance, she loved the beach and she loved to laugh,” he said, as more than a dozen close family members watched on.

“It was hard accepting the traumatic loss of my mum. My life fell apart and my heart broke.”

She was simply a “beautiful person”.

“Rest in peace, mum, I love you and miss you, you will forever be in my heart.”

Mr Boyd was also injured in the attack and said his doctors wouldn’t let him leave hospital because the “fear and stress” was so great. “I couldn’t comprehend what happened to her.”

‘SHE WOULD HAVE SUFFERED HORRIBLY’

Ms Kontozis’s brother James Kontozis told the hearing his sister never had a chance against her attacker, who “towered” over her. He told of the traumatic moment he realised she must have “suffered horribly” — when police said they would need DNA to positively identify her.

“I thought, ‘How brutal was her murder?’. I couldn’t imagine the terror and trauma Tina suffered in her final moments.”

He continued: “I insisted on seeing her and was told not to touch her or hug her because her body was so fragile.”

The damage done to her rings, which were given back to the family, was graphic proof her body had been “desecrated”.

Tina Kontozis was killed in her Bundeena home in April 2016.

“I couldn’t imagine the trauma Tina endured in her final moments,” he said. “But when I was given the rings she was wearing and saw the deformed state they were in, I came to the realisation that she would have suffered horribly.”

His voice breaking, Mr Kontozis said he left his “baby sister” down because he couldn’t protect her from a “selfish, self-gratifying bully”.

“She revealed to me the fear she had for herself and for Daniel and of not being able to escape the violent toxic environment because of the threats and intimidation that was regularly inflicted on them by this unremorseful perpetrator and which was nothing short of torture.”

Mr Kontozis called for Boyd to be locked away for the rest of his life.

“My life and that of my family will never be the same and it is my hope the convicted murderer will be given a lifetime to ponder his actions in taking the life of such a special woman who only wanted to love and be loved.”

Another brother, Nicholas Kontozis, said he was haunted by what his sister would have endured.

“I struggle everyday with unbearable thoughts of guilt, plagued with dread that I could have stopped the evil that came into my sister’s life.”

Their mother Helen had her daughter-in-law read her statement to the court — in which she said her “heart was ripped out” when she learned her daughter had been murdered.

“You had no right to take my daughter’s life — what you did was intolerable and unforgivable,” she said. “There is no punishment that is severe enough for your vicious crime.”

“You had no right to take my daughter’s life, and what you did was intolerable and unforgivable and I have not seen you show one ounce of remorse.”

Boyd pleaded guilty in August to the murder and also of knocking Daniel unconscious during the attack. There had been an Apprehended Violence Order in force since July 2015 to protect the mother and son.

Stephen Boyd is facing a sentencing hearing over the murder of his former partner.

‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’

When he returned to the Bundeena home from a friend’s house on the day of the murder he saw his father’s hands were covered in blood. “What have you done?” he screamed, as he ran to find his mum.

In the rear living area, he saw her lying on her side, covered in blood. There was also blood on the walls and floor. Two broken pieces of wood and three bloodstained knives were found in the home. One knife, with a 20.5cm blade, was found under Ms Kontozis’s body, another in a kitchen drawer and the third was located in a kitchen bin.

When he looked up he could see his father running towards him with a vat in his hand. He was struck in the back of the head with such force it left him unconscious.

Members of the family left court as the graphic nature if the wounds were read, while others had to be comforted.

Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC said the attack likely lasted more than 30 minutes. Neighbours called 000 when they heard swearing and screaming, followed by loud thumps, some of which were so strong a painting on a neighbouring unit wall fell down.

The Bundeena community was horrified by the death of Ms Kontozis.

LETTER FROM JAIL

In the weeks after the murder, Boyd wrote a letter to Daniel and other family members — and he made it clear who he blamed for the death of Ms Kontozis.

Part of the letter was read by Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC where Boyd suggested it was the actions of police — not himself — that caused the murder even though it “purports to be seeking forgiveness from the family”.

“To this day I still believe the police should not have been called and should not have got involved in our family arguments,” he wrote, referring to the AVO and the conflict “between the three of us”.

“All it did was make things worse because the police overreact and exaggerate the facts and charges.

“Police should not have carried on with it, resulting in restrictions and more pressure on me which I believe contributed to my emotional breakdown that terrible day.”

Daniel Boyd and family members outside the NSW Supreme Court.

Mr Maxwell said the letter made it clear Boyd blamed his actions on that of police, who were simply doing their duty protecting the public.

He argued Boyd should be jailed for life. “This is a murder committed in the context of domestic violence,” he said. “There was an apprehended violence order against the offender for a conviction in relation to the assault of his wife and assault occasioning actual bodily harm of his son.”

Mr Maxwell said Boyd had shown disdain for the legal system, in both breaching the AVO and also because he had been convicted of assaulting Ms Kontozis and Daniel about 10 months before the murder.

He told the court Boyd had cleaned up after the killing by going to the bathroom and washing blood from his body. Within an hour he was captured on CCTV buying alcohol and withdrawing $200 cash. He was arrested the next day after being chased by police for 26km where he reached speeds of 165km/h.

Justice Julia Lonergan adjourned the hearing until February 2 when Boyd’s barrister will make his submissions.

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