Bashed woman abandoned 'like road kill'

The grieving husband of a woman beaten to death by her lover has told a judge he repeatedly questions why her killer abandoned her like "road kill" to die in their garden.

Kevin Rogan said he still loved Dianne Rogan, his wife of 34 years, and would never know why she was killed so brutally.

"What happened to Dianne was evil and cowardly and haunts me every moment of every day," he said in the South Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday.

He was reading his victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing of Bevan John Brougham, 53, who was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of Ms Rogan, 52.

"I endlessly question why you left her to die, treating her like nothing more than road kill," Mr Rogan said.

Ms Rogan suffered extensive fractures and injuries to her face, head, chest and back when she was attacked by Brougham in the backyard spa at her Whyalla home in July 2013, while her husband was overseas.

In acquitting him of murder, Justice John Sulan, who heard the trial without a jury, said he was not satisfied the drunk Brougham intended to kill her.

Mr Rogan said he went to sleep every night with images of Brougham attacking and beating his wife to death, and repeatedly thought of her smashed, bruised and blackened face.

"I think of her alone in our garden, gasping for breath and trying to hold on to life while you just walked away," he said.

"I lost my friend, my soul mate, my travel partner, my gardening partner, my wife and the mother of our children."

He broke down, saying his wife's death had caused him great moral and spiritual turmoil.

"My faith tells me to forgive but my heart says that is not possible."

The judge also heard numerous other victim impact statements from the family of Ms Rogan, who had two children, three grandchildren, five brothers and a sister.

Statements were read out from the local priest and local MP Eddie Hughes, who said Ms Rogan was a valued and well-known member of the Whyalla community.

When Ms Rogan did not turn up to her job as deputy registrar at Whyalla Magistrates Court, her daughter Rebecca Rogan went to her home and found her mother's naked body beside the spa.

"I found my mum alone, abandoned and I still have nightmares about what I saw that day," she said.

The hearing continues.