WARNING: The content of this story may be distressing.

The family of Karen Chetcuti (nee Verbunt) were relieved  to finally hear the words they had been waiting for: the man responsible for her violent death would never be released from prison.

Speaking outside Wangaratta court on Friday, sister Leny Verbunt​  described Michael Cardamone as a "sadistic sociopath".

Justice Lex Lasry sentenced Cardamone to life without parole for what he called a "horrifying, depraved and disgusting" attack on Ms Chetcuti.

​Cardamone, 50, attacked his well-liked neighbour at her rural Whorouly home and held her prisoner for hours before burning her to death in remote bushland in January 2016. 

Ms Chetcuti, 49, was watering her vegetable garden when Cardamone sedated her with horse tranquilliser and tied her up with rope and duct tape.

She was injected with battery acid, sexually assaulted, bashed and finally doused in petrol and set alight while still alive.

"I'm so glad that he got life, but it doesn't bring Karen back,"  Ms Verbunt said.

"It's such a relief – the whole way through your heart's pounding waiting for that, so it's great...

"With more and more people in the community taking ice and drugs, we're just going to have more and more of these horrible situations in the future. 

"They don't even know what they're doing, they're out of their minds."

The family sat through a two-day plea hearing in which they heard about Cardamone's regular methamphetamine use and the 18 different versions of the story he told police and the media, each time contradicting the one before.

"He wouldn't even know the real story would he? He was just out of his mind," Ms Verbunt said.

"There's lots of things going on in Victoria all the time and our population's growing as well and drugs are becoming a bigger problem, so we're going to see more of these violent killings."

She said she wanted her sister to be remembered as a loving mother.

"I just feel very sorry for her children mostly … they've got to live with this for the rest of their lives, it's terrible," she said.

Mother Clary Verbunt said the murder was senseless and described Cardamone as "a monster, not a man at all".

She said she had been very proud of what her daughter achieved as part of the Whorouly community.

Ms Chetcuti's ex-husband Tony Chetcuti welcomed the life sentence without parole, saying the court proceedings had been hard on their teenage children, but they were taking small steps.

"It's a good step forward, not to be released," he said. "There's no closure, it will never go away."

In sentencing Cardamone, Justice Lasry said it was very difficult to accept Cardamone was truly remorseful for his actions. 

"You treated her and her body with absolute contempt," he said. 

"The method by which you killed her … was grossly violent."

"I believed I had ceased to be amazed by the senseless violence that men have inflicted on defenceless women, but what you did to Karen Chetcuti was unbelievable," he said. 

"I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as virtually non-existent."

He said the case against Cardamone was "overwhelming".

Sometimes a crime was "so cruel, so horrific and so callous" that a step towards mercy – or parole – was too much, he said.