"The pain that Matthew must have suffered during his death is thought about every day by us and will be for the rest of our lives," he told a court yesterday.

Nearly three years after Matthew Digby's remains were found chained to the passenger seat of a burnt-out car at Mount Murray, his family were yesterday given the chance to confront the two people convicted of his murder.

A jury found Richard James Walsh, of Dapto, and Lauren Mae Batcheldor, of Albion Park Rail, guilty in August of kidnapping and murdering Mr Digby in January 2010.

During sentencing, submissions for the pair in a Supreme Court in Sydney yesterday, Mr Digby's father spoke of his agony at losing his beloved son to such a brutal death.

"We live with the horror of Matt's death every day," he told the court.

"To lose a child is heartbreaking, but to know the circumstances in which he was killed is something that plays on our minds over and over.

"Perhaps the hardest thing to accept is not even being able to say goodbye to him and tell him how much we all loved him."

Mr Digby's charred remains were found chained by the neck to the passenger seat of a burnt-out car at Mount Murray on January 25, 2010.

The Crown claimed the 35-year-old's death stemmed from Batcheldor's discovery that he had hocked a necklace stolen by another person from her home in early 2010.

Following an intimidating meeting at his home, Batcheldor and Walsh later met Mr Digby at Beaton Park to question him over other stolen items.

There, Mr Digby was subjected to a terrifying attack before he was tied up with chains and driven to an undisclosed address.

While detained in the garage, he was strangled by Walsh with a dog chain.

His body was later driven to Mount Murray and the car set alight.

Barrister John Spencer, acting for Batcheldor, told the court his client had not been present when Mr Digby was killed.

"There's simply no evidence that my client had anything to do with the physical injury," he said.

"Her knowledge of what happened here is nil."

Giving evidence yesterday, Batcheldor's mother Judith spoke of her daughter's friendship with Mr Digby and her reaction to his death.

"She was a mess, she was actually physically ill," she said.

Ms Davenport said there had been no medical evidence supporting one account that Walsh had strangled Mr Digby with a chain until his neck cracked. Sentencing is on November 22.