"IF I could turn back time I would," one of four killers of a 22-year-old man has told a Sydney court.
"But I can't. And I'm sorry."
Michael Patrick Brown, 23, took the stand in the NSW Supreme Court to apologise for the pain he has caused the family of Jamie Lefoe, who was stabbed to death in January 2011.
Brown was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury earlier this year, while Sean Robert Sutcliffe, 39, Darren Michael Hoskins, 38, and Darren Troy Moulds, 30, were found guilty of murder.
The four men were confronted in court by Mr Lefoe's mother, Margaret Lefoe, who told them: "I hate you all."
"You have no idea what you have done to my family," Ms Lefoe said in her victim impact statement.
"The day you killed my beloved son Jamie Lefoe was the day you killed me."
Ms Lefoe wept as she recalled going to the crime scene, "begging it was not my son lying dead on the street".
The men's trial heard a dispute broke out at Ruse between Mr Lefoe and the men after Mr Lefoe accused them of burning his mother's car.
Mr Lefoe produced a firearm and fired a number of shots, grazing the back of Moulds' head before he fled down the street.
The four men chased Lefoe and attacked him with a range of weapons including a baseball bat, a crowbar, a machete and a knife.
Mr Lefoe was fatally stabbed in the lower back.
During the men's sentence hearing on Thursday, Acting Justice Michael Grove noted the shots fired by Mr Lefoe were "the elephant in the room".
"It can't be entirely irrelevant," he said.
Defence barrister Philip Young SC, representing Hoskins, submitted provocation was a factor in the murder.
Mr Lefoe was still perceived to be a threat when the pursuit started, he said.
John Stratton SC, representing Brown, said his client had shown remorse for his actions both in court and more "eloquently" to police officers.
The court heard Brown hit Mr Lefoe with a machete before the chase started and, after pursuing him down the road, handed the machete to another person.
Crown prosecutor Terrance Thorpe put it to Brown that he knew the machete would then be used to attack Mr Lefoe.
"I wasn't thinking," Brown replied.
The court heard Brown has a mild intellectual disability and is learning to read and write in jail.
Mr Stratton said he was younger than his co-offenders and had been "drawn in" by the others to the joint criminal enterprise.
Ms Lefoe bent over double in tears as Brown apologised for his actions.
The sentence hearing continues on Friday.
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