THE grief-stricken sister of a man who died last year after being kicked and beaten during a drunken frenzy at Mareeba says she has been so affected by the murder she is still too upset to work, suffers chronic insomnia and cannot be left alone.

Timothy Cedric Mitchell, 25, was sentenced in the Cairns Supreme Court yesterday to life in jail for the murder of his friend Gary Michael Gregory in May last year after a 12-hour session drinking methylated spirits and smoking cannabis.

During sentencing, the court was read a victim impact statement from Mr Gregory's sister Dorothy Johnny, from Doomadgee, who described her brother as a "happy-go-lucky'' and funny man, who loved his family.

The court heard Mr Gregory was the youngest of four brothers, all of whom died before him, and Ms Johnny remained highly traumatised over his death.

"Gary was a fun-loving man. He loved to travel and meet new people,'' the statement said.

"Dorothy says since his death life has not been the same.

"The grief is too much and she takes it one day at a time.

"She needs company all the time and she doesn't sleep much.''

In sentencing Mitchell to life imprisonment, which now carries a mandatory non-parole period of 20 years under recent State Government reforms, Justice Jim Henry said it was obvious Mitchell's "extreme intoxication'' had been the major contributor to the incident in which he assaulted both Mr Gregory and another man, kicking Mr Gregory in the head.

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