'Innocent!!!': Molly Ticehurst killer's twisted rage

The man who murdered Molly Ticehurst has long been a distant observer of the devastation his violence has caused.

Daniel Billings has appeared via video from Goulburn jail's supermax wing in countless court appearances over two-and-a-half years, always sitting still and emotionless.

On Thursday, the 31-year-old will finally come face-to-face with the force of the Ticehurst family's grief.

Billings will appear in person at the NSW Supreme Court in Orange, in central western NSW, for a two-day sentencing hearing that will take in the Ticehursts' victim impact statements and expert evidence on his motive.

The family has endured a drawn-out legal process for more than 860 days, while also finding themselves at the centre of a national reckoning on domestic and gendered violence.

Billings, a former trainee mining driller, murdered his ex-girlfriend in a frenzied stabbing after breaking into her bedroom at her Forbes home just before midnight on April 21, 2024.

He had been released on bail by a local court registrar a fortnight before the attack, charged with a string of sexual assault and domestic violence offences against Ms Ticehurst.

As soon as he learned of her allegations of repeated rapes, Billings adamantly denied the crimes and developed a twisted obsession with clearing his name.

"If I'm going to do the time, I may as well do the crime," he said in a conversation with a friend soon before the murder, according to agreed facts before the court.

In a compendium of scrawled notes left for his friends and family to find, Billings wrote in green texta: "Innocent!!!"

Also angry about perceived mistreatment from police, who he said threw his Queensland boxing singlet in the dirt, Billings wrote: "Make me out to be a monster, treat me like an animal, then OK, I'm going to play the f***ing part."

Despite Billings' calm demeanour in court, behind the scenes he has taken an aggressive approach to his court case.

Soon after he was charged with murder, Billings' legal team began protracted negotiations with prosecutors.

With seemingly limited progress after 18 months, Ms Ticehurst's grief-stricken father Tony Ticehurst said the delay caused the family more heartache.