Jenny Bird trembled as she came face to face with notorious child murderer Leslie Camilleri and pleaded for him to reveal where he had buried her daughter.
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"Please, Les," she begged, repeating the phrase several times.
But the killer remained stony-faced.
Camilleri, 43, pleaded guilty last year to the murder of 13-year-old Prue Bird, who disappeared from her Melbourne home in 1992.
He is already serving two life sentences for the murder of Bega schoolgirls Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins in 1997.
In the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday, Ms Bird said she had wished for death since her daughter disappeared.
She spoke of living in fear that her other children would be taken and always noting what clothing they were wearing, just in case.
"The constant pain in my chest is my broken heart.
"I have prayed for cancer to take me. I am living to die.
"I want to be a voice for Prue, so you know what a beautiful girl she was, and then you'll know what I've lost," Ms Bird said.
"To even think of the fear Prue must have suffered. It breaks my heart.
"I need to bury my baby, but have never been able to say goodbye."
Justice Elizabeth Curtain once again called on Camilleri, who has converted to Islam, to reveal the location of the body.
"There could never be a more poignant, heartfelt plea from a grieving mother to the man who has pleaded guilty to her daughter's murder, and who will give scant information about it and will not disclose where her body is buried," she said.
"If you can at all find it in your heart or conscience, you now being a person of faith, to disclose the identity of where Prue Bird's body can be found, then you should do that.
"You're the father of four children yourself.
"You have a think about how you would like to be in Ms Bird's position, let alone the fact that by your plea of guilty, you acknowledge that you put her there."
Camilleri remained expressionless and silent.
Ms Bird again expressed her belief that Prue's murder was related to Melbourne's 1986 Russell Street bombing, which killed a police officer, and that this was why police had neglected the case in the beginning.
It's been viewed as payback for evidence Prue's grandmother and step-grandfather gave over the bombing.
Prosecutor Michele Williams, SC, said although there was evidence to support the theory, the Crown could not prove it.
Camilleri's lawyer John Kelly said his client, who has almost completed a degree in horticulture and is studying Arabic, should not receive a life sentence.
He said Camilleri should be sentenced as if it were 1992 - before he murdered another two schoolgirls - based on his criminal history at that point, which was "modest" and included only burglary and dishonesty offences.
He urged the judge to take into account Camilleri's remorse, but Justice Curtain said none had been shown.
Camilleri will be sentenced on a date to be fixed. AAP
