In 2006, Ms King was attacked outside the pub in Hill End, where she lived with her son and daughter and operated the General Store.

Beaten by Leanne Church and her daughter, Ms King was left with lasting damage all over her body.

“The judge described it as an ambush” she said.

When the case was tried that October, Ms Church arrived bald and in a bandanna, and her solicitor said that his client had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and had been in chemotherapy for six weeks.

Ms Church and her daughter received good behaviour bonds instead of jail time, and the community of Hill End rallied to support her, urging Ms King to let the fight go.

Ms King had already seen her case adjourned several times, had lost her mother to cancer and seen her father diagnosed, and didn’t believe for a moment that Leanne Church was dying.

“As soon as she made that statement, for me it was all about getting to the truth,” she said.

Ms King contacted Daffodil Cottage in Bathurst, where Ms Church had claimed to be receiving treatment, and while they couldn’t reveal details of their patients, they could tell her who was not a patient - Leanne Church.

Ms King called treatment facilities around the west and finally contacted a national registry of all patients receiving chemotherapy in Australia, finding Leanne Church not listed anywhere.

Over two years, she became increasingly isolated from a community rallying behind Ms Church, raising funds and supporting her in other ways, as when one woman drove her to Daffodil Cottage and picked her up again after a non-existent treatment.

“The charity that people gave her was not just financial,” Ms King said. “It was of their hearts and their generosity of spirit.”

Ms King became depressed, spending 11 nights in St Vincent’s Hospital.

“There was a lot of time spent in the dark abyss.”

When her son lost a tooth during that time, she had to call her 12-year-old daughter, tell her for the first time that the tooth fairy didn’t exist, and ask her to find some money to put under her brother’s pillow.

Ms King lost her business and her house and found herself in a growing cavern of debt that she is still trying to conquer years later.

She felt she was failing as a mother: her children were on tenterhooks around her, taking on added responsibilities at home and ostracised at school.

“You can’t put a price on the loss,” she said. “The cost of it all is insurmountable.”

After two years, prostate cancer killed Ms King’s father and she left Hill End for Mudgee, where she began to recover from her depression and seek justice.

As the truth came out, other Hill End residents spoke in court about the deception, and Ms King even found the hairdresser who had been shaving Ms Church’s head.

“The more I would learn, the more intent I was in making sure justice was served on her,” Ms King said.

With Ms Church sentenced on Friday, Ms King feels free from the burden of returning to court to repeatedly plead her case.

While some might complain about their lives, Ms King said she was glad every day to be able to get out of bed and not be in tears.

She was proud to have been able to teach her children not to be frightened to speak out, and never to let bullies intimidate them

“You have every right to fight, and you have to fight the system,” she said. “If I didn’t fight, I was going to die.”