Maria Cardamone, 78, was sentenced to the 141 days already served in jail since her arrest in May for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

She showed no emotion as Judge Gerard Mullaly handed down the sentence in Wangaratta County Court on Friday, but locked eyes with Tony Chetcuti, the former husband of Karen Chetcuti (nee Verbunt), who was left disappointed by the outcome.

Michael Cardamone, 50, has lodged an appeal against his landmark sentence of life in jail without parole for the brutal murder of his Whorouly neighbour Ms Chetcuti in January 2016.

He had tried to incriminate Myrtleford man Edward George by hiring a hitman to force him to write a note admitting to the murder of Ms Chetcuti, and then make the death look like a suicide.

But the “hitman” was actually an undercover police officer.

Maria Cardamone’s role was to withdraw $9000 cash as a deposit and hand it over to an associate of the hitman – another undercover officer – in Melbourne.

Judge Mullaly accepted the prosecution’s submission that she was just a conduit for the money and did not know it was intended as payment for the murder of Mr George.

She had been treated for depression since her husband died in 2014, then on the day of her arrest, May 4, she was assessed by neurologist Nola Ross who found signs of the early onset of dementia.

“Mrs Cardamone’s history and presentation indicates apathy, a spontaneity indifference, emotional flatness, disorganisation, inattention, loss of insight, perseveration, poor judgement and irritability,” Dr Ross said in her report.

Judge Mullaly said he had not lost sight of the gravity of the crime, but “as a first offender at your advanced age, you are entitled to ask for and receive a measure of mercy”.

“You came to the blinded view that (Michael Cardamone) was being falsely implicated,” he said.

“You were vulnerable and malleable and thus you engaged in a misguided and ill-conceived course of behaviour. In my view, this is one of those rare instances where an impaired mental functioning, though short of the legal definition of impairment, does operate to reduce culpability.”

Maria Cardamone was released into the care of her daughter, with the intention that she would go to Melbourne to live at an aged-care facility.

Family and friends of Karen Chetcuti (nee Verbunt) believe four and a half months in jail was not enough for Maria Cardamone.

Ms Chetcuti's sister Leny Verbunt said the guilty plea spared them a trial but she wished the woman had stayed in jail.

"The moment I wake up, every morning, it's the first thing I think about  – her horrible death. When I go to bed it's the last thing I think about. She would have been so terrified. So frightened. I have to exist. I have to continue on,” Ms Verbunt said.

She slammed authorities for releasing Michael Cardamone, who was on parole for raping a 15-year-old girl, into his mother’s care.

“How on earth could she be the right person to look after this lunatic,” she said.

“This should never have happened.”

Speaking outside court, Ms Chetcuti’s former husband Tony Chetcuti said he was “bitterly disappointed” with the sentence and the fallout would never really be over for his family.

“I think she knew what she was doing,” he said.

-with Tammy Mills