The devastated mum of murdered soldier Kinnon Ragni has told of the unbearable pain of losing her son.

Isabel Macrae and her family travelled from Scotland to see her son's killer sentenced to life imprisonment. In her victim statement, she spoke about the unbearable pain of losing her son: "How can I tell you what this murder has done to us? How can I bear to face the reality that my first-born son has been murdered by a stranger for no apparent reason?

"We spend our days avoiding this truth, because it is unbearable. We hold each other tight and try to be strong. We remember the good times and share our memories, but eventually we have to go to bed.

"For me, the worst time is waking up. I begin to wake and realise that Kinnon is dead, no longer in this world, and I try to sink back into sleep. My heart thumps, I feel that my insides have been scraped out, my throat is raw with unvoiced screaming, my face is wet with silent tears, my heart is full of despair and fear and I wish I didn't have to go on. I wish that I could abandon life and go wherever Kinnon is.

"We have all been robbed, our hearts broken, our souls battered and bruised. This loss will be with us forever.

"Kinnon was willing to give his life for his comrades in both just and unjust conflict and in international peace keeping.

"That he should be murdered so brutally by a stranger, for no reason, puts fear into everyone.

"His death has affected so many people. Levon, Giampietro and I have a hole in our family, which can never be repaired.

"No-one's life is the same. No-one feels quite as safe, quite as confident in human decency.

"We read about violence everyday, but to have it happen in real life to one of the people I love most makes me feel half dead. This feeling will be with me for the rest of my days. Part of my life will always be missing.

"The murderer planned his attack, but the victim was arbitrary, a soldier for preference, but it could have been anyone.

"He had no thought or compassion for Kinnon, for the young people who witnessed the attack, for the friends and family who would be shocked by this pointless murder.

"I have always tried to understand people, to see the best in them.

"However, there are some people who are so out of touch with humanity that they cannot be given a second chance because they have absolutely no respect for others.

"This murder was both planned and random. This combination of calculation and arbitrariness is very frightening and very dangerous.

"Thirty-three weeks to the day after Kinnon's death, Levon and I sit by Kinnon's grave on what would have been his thirtieth birthday. We try to comfort each other talking about the kindness we receive from so many people, the beauty of the setting, how much Kinnon would like this place, sharing some memories, finding a scrap of peace in the eternity of the ocean and the symbolism of the continuing fall and return of the waves.

"But my dreams tell a different story. They have a recurring theme - theft. I dream that my purse, my car, my roof tiles, books, plants, even my food has been stolen.

"But the reality is that it's not replaceable things which have been stolen from me, but my irreplaceable son.