And then, on a hot day in December, 2018, the long-running family feud between Justin Fuller and his half-sister Kristy Duley reached boiling point in suburban Belmont South, culminating in a chaotic confrontation in Beach Street that ended with Fuller stabbing Ms Duley's partner, Guy Hamilton McCulloch, 50, to death.

It is a relationship defined by rage that was always going to spill over into the criminal proceedings during Fuller's murder trial in Newcastle Supreme Court earlier this year.

When Fuller, who was represented by barrister Winston Terracini, SC, was acquitted of murder in September, the jury accepting at least some of his version about how the stabbing occurred and finding that he was either provoked or acting in self-defence, Ms Duley exploded with rage.

When it came time to read her victim impact statement during the sentence hearing last month, Ms Duley instead scrunched up the piece of paper and lobbed it across the courtroom, shouting: "you can shove your f---ing victim impact statement up your f---ing arse".

And on Monday, as Fuller came to be sentenced, no sooner had the crucial figure, the number of years he would serve behind bars, passed Justice Richard Cavanagh's lips, there was another explosion of rage.

"What the f---," Ms Duley shouted. "What the f--- is that s---." She kicked back her chair and headed for the exit, pounding her fists on the heavy glass door.

To those who witnessed the outburst it was less of a surprise and more emblematic of the bitter relationship with her half-brother that culminated in the fatal confrontation in Belmont South.

The sentence, the figure that so enraged Ms Duley, was a maximum of nine years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years and three months. Fuller will be eligible for parole in March, 2025, when he plans to relocate, move away from Newcastle and away from Ms Duley.