A legal battle over burial plans spanning almost four years appears be over, with the New South Wales Supreme Court ruling a First Nations woman should be cremated in line with her family's wishes.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image and name of a person who has died.
The body of Wiradjuri woman Debbie-Lee Gill has been in the morgue of Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital since January 2021.
Cathy-May Gill said the years following her sister's death have been an ordeal.
"It takes a huge toll. My parents have aged like 100 years in the last bloody three years," she said.
The death of 40-year-old Central Coast woman Debbie-Lee Gill was ruled a suicide by a New South Wales coroner.
Debbie-Lee Gill died on the NSW Central Coast in January 2021 and her body has since been in a Newcastle morgue. (Supplied)
Her family disputed those findings, and wanted further examination of her body, but their request was rejected.
Cathy-May said her sister's body had been stuck in legal limbo in the mortuary within the premises of Newcastle Forensic Medicine.
"I think we've just all been in autopilot going each day, a bit of the time," she said.
A hospital in New South Wales is allowed to keep the body of a deceased person in an in-house mortuary for up to 21 days after the date of death.
However, in "exceptional circumstances" the NSW Health Secretary may in some cases grant a general approval for a body to be kept longer.
Debbie-Lee's case became delayed due to a stoush between the Gill family, who wanted her cremated, and her former de facto partner, Leslie "Leroy" Speeding, who wanted her buried on country at Noraville Cemetery.
Frustrated by delays, the state government sought court intervention, which was resolved in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Before announcing his judgement, Justice Geoff Lindsay told the court Mr Speeding feared for the fate of Debbie Lee's spirit.
"During the course of the hearing of the proceedings, the second defendant [Mr Speeding] expressed anguish about a sense of personal responsibility for the fate of the deceased should he not be able to have her buried on country," Justice Lindsay said.
Debbie-Lee's mother Joanne Gill told the court she disputed the claim that her daughter and Mr Speeding were in a relationship when she died.
Cathy-May Gill has been fighting in the NSW Supreme Court to cremate her sister's body. (ABC News: Nakari Thorpe)
The Gill family wanted Debbie-Lee cremated so her ashes could be kept in the care of Cathy-May, who has been entrusted with the ashes of Angel, Debbie-Lee's stillborn daughter.
"She had her own daughter cremated, so it wasn't like she was against cremation, and then we were all aware that that was what her wishes were, was to be put with Angel," Cathy-May Gill said.
Justice Lindsay ruled in favour of the family, after hearing evidence about Angel.
"Decisive factors in favour of the biological family are the long established and enduring relationship she had with her family, the close bonds she shared with her children ... [and] the preferences of the children as her descendant," he said.
"In life she had chosen cremation for her stillborn child and, in death, entrusted those ashes to her sister in the confidence that her ashes would join those of her baby in death."
Cathy-May Gill said arrangements for cremation had already been made.
Justice Lindsay ordered the Gill family take custody of Debbie-Lee's remains for cremation before November 8.