A mother of five who helped a man escape detection after he murdered a teenage girl and hid her body in a barrel claims she had fallen under the killer's "thrall".
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On Wednesday, Tracy Ann Thomson, 43, walked free from the Brisbane Supreme Court after being granted immediate parole on a three-year sentence.
Thomson admitted being an accessory after the manslaughter of Larissa Beilby, 16, by Zlatko Sikorsky, between June 22 and 28, at Buccan.
Knowing that Sikorsky had killed the teen, Thomson acted as his driver to help him flee detection between June 26 and 30, 2018.
Sikorsky died last year being assaulted in a Brisbane jail while waiting to face trial.
Larissa died a "brutal and violent death" with her remains wrapped in a sheet and hidden in a barrel, crown prosecutor Jodie Wooldridge told the court.
Her remains were found still in a barrel on the tray of a ute found abandoned at Stapylton on the Gold Coast.
Sikorsky then sent a text message to Thomson, begging for help.
"Hey mate, I need to speak to you asap, because I was just in a hectic chase. They found a heavy thing in the car," the text read.
The "heavy thing" was his girlfriend's decomposing body.
Thomson was anxious to help, agreeing when Sikorsky complained "s*** had gone wrong" and agreed to collect him from a Brisbane hotel.
"The defendant told police that when she was driving to meet Sikorsky, she heard on the radio that he was wanted and that police found the body in the barrel," Ms Wooldridge said.
"She expressly admitted to police that she drove to meet Sikorsky to assist him, knowing he was wanted by police for murder.
"She said she did because she felt a sense of loyalty - even though she did not consider the two of them to be in a relationship, but referred to the feelings that she had for him."
Thomson told police she knew Sikorsky was wanted for murder - she didn't care.
"She did not want to know what had occurred - she just did not want to know the details."
The pair fled to the Sunshine Coast, where police would ultimately corner the murderer days later.
"They stopped for petrol, bought food, and additionally pulled on to the side of the road where they engaged in sexual intercourse before continuing," Ms Wooldridge said.
Charges of accessory after the fact to murder were dropped at an earlier hearing.
"The charge is not to suggest that Sikorsky's offending was anything less than murder. Rather it is a recognition that at the time of her actions .... the defendant must have known that Sikorsky had unlawfully killed the deceased in circumstances that at least amounted to manslaughter. "
Defence counsel Laura Reece said Thomson still struggled to cope with her role in Larissa's murder.
"Her conduct and her account of her relationship with Mr Zikorsky demonstrate she was really in his thrall," Ms Reece said.
"Her motivation in assisting him was her misguided loyalty to someone she hoped to be in a relationship with, that she wanted to accept and love her.
"It is a dreadful thing for her now to contemplate that she had feelings for someone capable of such terrible violence."
Justice David Boddice sentenced Thomson to three years' imprisonment but granted immediate parole.
Australian Associated Press
