Rick Thorburn will spend the rest of his life in an Australian prison for the murder of Tiahleigh Palmer, a 12-year-old schoolgirl who had been staying with the family as a foster child.
But despite the horrific murder, which involved Thorburn dumping Tiahleigh's body on the banks of a GoldCoast river, his family continues to stand by him.
Thorburn is serving a life sentence for murdering Tiahleigh on October 29, 2015.
Her badly decomposed body was found by fishermen six days later on the banks of the Pimpama River.
An inquest into her death is being held at Brisbane's Magistrates Court this week, with Thorburn, his wife Julene and their two sons Trent and Joshua all called to give evidence.
Julene, Trent and Joshua all served time in jail for attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury.
Trent was also sentenced for incest after admitting to having sex with the 12-year-old.
Giving evidence at the inquest yesterday, Julene admitted she still regularly spoke to her husband and visited him in prison weekly.
"He doesn't have anybody else and I feel you take vows over 30 years for better or for worse and he doesn't have anybody else so I tend to feel an obligation," she said.
When asked whether she and Thorburn were still close, Julene said she maintained contact with him as an "obligation" of their marriage.
"I wouldn't, I don't know if you would really call it close, I call it probably an obligation in a lot of ways because he doesn't have anybody else," she said.
"Yeah, I'm still married to him."
Julene also told the inquest the couple had never spoken about how Tiahleigh was killed.
In a tearful speech yesterday, Thorburn claimed he "accidentally suffocated" Tiahleigh.
Due to the condition of Tiahleigh's body, police were never able to figure out how she was killed and Thorburn never told police how he murdered her.
Crying on the witness stand yesterday, Thorburn claimed he suffocated her after she tried to leave her foster home following an argument.
Thorburn told the court Tiahleigh had packed her bags and was making her way down the driveway when he grabbed her.
"We got to the veranda … she didn't respond when I spoke to her," he said.
Thorburn said he realised he must have accidentally suffocated her but could not remember if he tried resuscitating her.
"I know I'm responsible for [her] death … it's something I struggle to live with," he said.
"I know sorry can't take away the pain it has caused a lot of people but I am truly sorry."
Rick Thorburn. Photo / Supplied
Later, Julene gave evidence that her husband had never told her what happened the night of the murder other than to say: "What you aren't told, you can't repeat".
"All he really said from what I remember is … 'Tiahleigh is no longer with us, I hope you know what that means,'" she said.
It came after her husband had a shock outburst in court when asked about whether he "might have touched" or had sex with Tiahleigh while he was caring for her.
