Renae Lorraine Donald sentenced to prison after posing as her former boyfriend Tyson Clark-Robertson to cover up the fact he’d been murdered

A woman pretended to be her former boyfriedd for almost 10 months to conceal the fact he’d been murdered.

Tyson Clark-Robertson was killed by his former girlfriend’s new partner and she then pretended to be him for 10 months to conceal the murder. Picture: SUPPLIED

A WOMAN who used her ex-boyfriend’s Facebook account in an effort to conceal the fact her new partner had murdered him could be released from prison in less than three years.

Renae Lorraine Donald sent messages purporting to be from Tyson Clark-Robertson for almost 10 months after he was killed in July 2016, to make his family, friends and lawyers believe he was still alive.

While pretending to be the murder victim, Donald, now 22, told Mr Clark-Robertson’s father, Tim Clark, that the pair were still in a relationship and even asked Mr Clark to give them money because she had fallen pregnant with twins.

But Donald was actually in a relationship with Ian Rosewall, who — unbeknown to Mr Clark — had bashed Mr Clark-Robertson to death with a hammer.

At the time of the murder, Rosewall had only recently begun dating Donald, who had previously been in a relationship with Mr Clark-Robertson until shortly after the three of them all moved into the same Mayfield home where the killing took place.

Donald and Rosewall continued collecting Mr Clark-Robertson’s disability support payments months after he was killed.

In March, Donald pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, while Rosewall pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Clark-Robertson after confessing to the crime in an interview with a forensic psychologist at Risdon Prison.

Justice Robert Pearce on Friday sentenced Donald to six years’ jail, and ordered that she not be eligible for parole until she has served at least half the sentence.

Donald’s lawyer Mark Doyle tendered a report from a clinical psychologist who diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder.

Mr Doyle said Donald was “a youthful person with a dysfunctional upbringing” and that she protected Rosewall because of a “fear of abandonment”.

Justice Pearce said Donald’s actions “added to the gross indignity” in how Mr Clark-Robertson was treated.

Justice Pearce noted the diagnosis in the psychologist’s report but told Donald it “also determines that you were a person capable of independent thought and had many months to think about what you were doing”.

Mr Clark-Robertson’s body was discovered in a shallow grave in the backyard of the home only after his father, Mr Clark, began to suspect the Facebook messages were not actually from his son and contacted police.

Rosewall, now aged 47, was in April sentenced to 22 years’ jail with a 12½-year non-parole period.

The other occupant of the Mayfield property, Robert William Broad, was last year sentenced to 12 months’ jail, wholly suspended, after a jury found him guilty of failing to report the murder.