NSW MAN BEHEADED AFTER FIGHT OVER A TREE

MARGARET Simmons faced her brother's murderer and asked only one question: "Where is his head?"

Jonathon Andrew Stenberg, 47, shot and decapitated Edward "Ned" Kelly, 54, at his Broadwater home on the NSW north coast in June last year.

After years of disputes with his neighbour, it was an argument over a tree that led to the Mr Kelly's murder.

His headless body was found on his kitchen floor with two blood-stained knives next to his neck. His head has never been found.

Days before the grisly discovery, Mr Kelly had been in a heated argument with Stenberg.

According to court documents, the pair had a history of bad blood, dating back to 2008 when Stenberg bought a block of land that backed onto Mr Kelly's.

Stenberg was charged with assaulting Mr Kelly in September 2009. But both alleged they were assaulted by the other and the charge was eventually withdrawn.











Then on the morning of Sunday June 17, 2012, Stenberg was cutting down a tree on his property using a chainsaw when a row between the two erupted.

One neighbour heard Stenberg say: "I'm going to f*** you up, arsehole."

Around 3am the next morning, Stenberg stumbled home from the pub, telling his wife: "I got pissed off and shot our neighbour."

It would take until July for police to track down Stenberg, who was found hiding out in thick scrub just south of Darwin armed with a Glock pistol.

At Stenberg's sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday, Ms Simmons faced her brother's murderer and asked: "Where is his head?"

"Come on, tell us," she said to a motionless Stenberg.

"If we knew ... it may put an end to our suffering."

Ms Simmons said she had been extremely close to her brother, who, while at times stubborn, had been a loving, caring and creative man, who nursed sick birds back to health.

"Some days the mere thought of this stings my eyes," she said.

"I found I have started to withdraw ... I seem to have lost the joy of the unknown.

"I used to feel safe living alone. Now I'm not so sure."

Barbara Mikkelsen, Mr Kelly's partner of 15 years, described their plans for the future.

"We were going to travel ... and look around for a little property to settle on and grow old together," she said in a statement read to the court.

"I'm now depressed and alone with the thought of moving forward without Ned."

Stenberg's barrister, Chris Bruce SC, said while the severing of Mr Kelly's head was an aggravating factor, it came "some hours" after the killing and was not done out of pleasure.

"The reason for the severing of the head and attempt to burn the house was an attempt to get rid of the evidence," he submitted.

A crude fuse consisting of a lit cigarette and a number of long matches bound by copper coil were found on the Akubra hat on top of Mr Kelly's body.

The electric stove top was also on.

Justice Monika Schmidt will sentence Stenberg next month.