Child killer's mum lashes out at media after sentencing

The mother of convicted child killer Warren Ross has lashed out at the media outside court.

The woman hit the side of a Nine News camera after her son had been sentenced to a maximum 40-year term for the murder brutal murder of his stepdaughter Tanilla Warrick-Deaves.

Ross killed the two-year-old at their Watanobbi home on the NSW Central Coast in August 2011 after subjecting the defenceless child to terrible and prolonged torture.

The 31-year-old forced Tanilla to run laps until she dropped, hit her and whipped her with various implements including an electric cord and his belt, and deliberately dropped a heavy tool box on her tiny hand.

Tanilla's mother Donna Deaves watched as Ross inflicted the fatal injuries on her daughter.

Ross and Deaves had been in a relationship for about two months when he began hurting Tanilla.

Ross's mother angrily shouted "I'll be dead. What about his kids?" after Justice Stephen Rothman handed down the sentence.

Earlier, Ross had mouthed and gestured at Tanilla's father Adrian Warrick as the court heard that Ross had been bashed while on remand because of the killing.

Ross shouted "see ya later Adrian" as he was led out of the dock to begin his lengthy sentence.

Justice Rothman ruled that the killing was not premeditated and did not fall into the most serious category of murder.

He also said Ross had not expressed any remorse for the death, which he said came after "several days of severe corporal punishment".

"No person with a modicum of humanity could fail to be moved by this murder," he added.