Tony Di Falco was a family man.
Even after beating cancer and planning to rebuild his life in the quiet coastal town of Golden Beach in Victoria's Gippsland region, family never left his mind.
The 61-year-old had updated his will to include his two stepchildren, Mr Di Falco's brother Nick said of their last ever meeting.
"He was trying to do the best he could, but he paid the ultimate price," he said.
His stepson Mehmet Bertan fatally stabbed him at his Hillside home in Melbourne's northwest on October 4, 2024.
Bertan was on Tuesday jailed for eight-and-a-half years with a minimum of five in the Victorian Supreme Court for the "violent and sustained" attack.
The 34-year-old arrived in a taxi at his family's home on the morning of the attack, after his mother and sister's partner had left for work, with a knife in a bag.
He had not slept the night before and had been gaming and using methylamphetamine.
Bertan walked inside and stabbed his stepfather multiple times, including three fatal blows to his neck.
Mr Di Falco died outside trying to get help.
Bertan then broke into his pregnant sister's room, telling her, "one last sexual favour before I kill you" before taking his clothes off and grabbing her in bed.
Police arrived and fired a warning shot inside when Bertan refused to drop the knife.
He was shot when he advanced towards officers outside.
Bertan had maintained his guilty plea to manslaughter after opting not to pursue a mental impairment defence on the basis of his schizophrenia diagnosis.
Justice Rita Incerti said he had not been receiving sufficient treatment at the time, and his "non-premeditated" actions were consistent with the delusional thinking associated with his untreated illness.
"Your mental impairment, which is not of your own making, seriously and significantly compromised your ability to think rationally and act appropriately," she said.
Six weeks before the killing, Bertan had experienced a psychotic episode where he falsely believed his family home would be robbed.
At a service station, he doused himself in petrol and planned to set himself alight to "distract" the supposed thieves from entering the home.
Justice Incerti accepted evidence from psychiatrist Rajan Darjee, who did not believe Bertan recovered from that episode and remained mentally unwell throughout the period.
He was moved into boarding accommodation following the incident.
While remorseful, the judge said his rehabilitation depended on him staying away from illicit drugs and taking his medication.
Outside court, Mr Di Falco's siblings remembered their outgoing and funny brother as the life of a party, but had expected a harsher sentence.
The system needed to be "fine tuned" to ensure mental health was being treated and followed up properly, Nick Di Falco said.
Mr Di Falco's sister Laura Di Vito said more resources are needed for mental health system.
"It's out of our control, but the families are (the ones) punished," she said.
Bertan could be released on parole in under three years after already serving 767 days in pre-sentence detention.
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