Bradley Robert Hoye was her middle child, who she said had a dream of becoming a property owner and running his own farm in the Narrabri area.

Ashley Smith, the man charged with the manslaughter of Mr Hoye, was sentenced to six years, nine months’ imprisonment yesterday.

Ms Hoye said, as a mother, she believed the sentence was not long enough.

“I’m totally shocked,” she said.

“I just wanted to run away.

“Even if it (the sentence) was 100 years, it still wouldn’t be enough.

“I thought the judge would have looked at the extent of Bradley’s injuries a bit more. I saw the photos from the coroner and he was unrecognisable.”

Ms Hoye said Bradley was a passionate, practising Catholic and always carried a bible with him.

After growing up in Brisbane, he had moved to take up contract seasonal work at properties around Narrabri in November 2007.

Ms Hoye told The Leader she had last spoken to her son on April 28, 2008, at Bradley’s uncle’s wedding.

“I had been planning on going to visit Brad for the weekend but he had told me they expected their work at Clyde Station to run out and they might move to work in the Colly area,” she said.

“He said it was probably best to wait to visit until he knew he would be working and what he would be doing.”

On the Sunday before his death, Bradley and two others had been working on farms in the Narrabri area and had been told they could have work near Goondiwindi.