While one woman can reach out and comfort her son, another mother will never see her youngest child again.
It is this stark contrast that devastates Warwick Anderson, the brother of murdered police officer Bryson Anderson.
Mr Anderson stood in the NSW Supreme Court and spoke directly to Fiona and Mitchell Barbieri, the mother and son who killed his youngest brother, a decorated detective inspector.
"I've been forced to sit in court watching one of my brother's killers attempt to comfort her son. My parents are unable to reach out or comfort their son," he said on Monday, looking directly at the Barbieris.
Fiona Barbieri sat impassive in the dock with her arms crossed, while her son hung his head, red-faced and sobbing.
"You should save the tears you have shed from the dock. You will not be forgiven," Mr Anderson said.
"Your spineless ambush of my brother stole him from his wife and children."
The Barbieris are facing a sentencing hearing over the killing of Inspector Anderson, who was stabbed to death while he tried to calm a neighbourhood dispute in December 2012.
Mitchell Barbieri, 21, has pleaded guilty to murder, while Fiona Barbieri, 47, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of substantial impairment.
One by one, members of the Anderson family told the court of how their lives were shattered on that day.
Damian Anderson said he and his younger brother were only 20 months apart and grew up sharing friends, hobbies and a love of riding motorcycles.
"Now, instead of meeting Bryson on Sunday morning for a ride, I get on my bike alone. I ride to the cemetery where Bryson has been placed alone. I stand at Bryson's grave alone."
He said his lasting memory of his brother was seeing his body in the morgue, an image that continues to haunt him.
"That was the last time my family was all together, in the morgue, around the body of my murdered brother."
The court has previously heard that Mitchell and Fiona Barbieri had engaged in a course of paranoid, delusional behaviour before, during and after the siege, which began when they clashed with their neighbour in the outer Sydney, semi-rural suburb of Oakville.
Mitchell Barbieri confronted Inspector Anderson, picked up a large kitchen knife and stabbed him twice as he stood next to the back door.
Barbieri will not face the mandatory life sentence that applies for the murder of a police officer because of mental health issues.
The court heard that Fiona Barbieri was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time and Mitchell Barbieri had experienced "a transferred delusional disorder" from his mother, who was the dominant member of their relationship.
The hearing continues.
