WORCESTER — The last four years have not been easy ones for 16-year-old Kayla Rosiello and her 10-year-old brother, Michael. On the night of Feb. 3, 2010, they watched as their mother, Maureen Rosiello, was fatally beaten by their father, Keith Rosiello. "I am the girl who got up the courage to testify against her abusive father, and I am also the same girl who watched her mother die," she said in a prepared impact statement.

WORCESTER — The last four years have not been easy ones for 16-year-old Kayla Rosiello and her 10-year-old brother, Michael.

On the night of Feb. 3, 2010, they watched as their mother, Maureen Rosiello, was fatally beaten by their father, Keith Rosiello, in the family's home at 32 Deerfield Road in Shrewsbury.

Last Thursday, a Worcester Superior Court jury convicted the 49-year-old Mr. Rosiello of first-degree murder in the killing. Kayla and Michael, the prosecution's key witnesses, were lauded by District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. for the courage they displayed in testifying against their father.

This morning, Judge Janet Kenton-Walker sentenced Mr. Rosiello to the mandatory term of life imprisonment without parole.

Before the sentence was imposed, however, Kayla once again addressed the court.

"I am the girl who got up the courage to testify against her abusive father, and I am also the same girl who watched her mother die," she said in a prepared impact statement.

Despite the counseling she and her brother have received, Kayla said there are times when she struggles to find the strength she needs to go on. At such times, she said, she thinks about what her mother would have wanted for her.

"Mom wouldn't want me to cry, to crumble and be weak. She would want me to stand tall, lead a new life, set goals and live happily. Mom lived in hell for Michael and I. She stayed in the house and suffered for years so that we could grow up with a mom, and so she could see us grow up.

"I am not going to let her suffering go without meaning and appreciation," Kayla said.

"Dad may have broken Mom, taken her hope, her pride, her dreams and her physical presence. But her spirit will live on through both me and Michael forever," she told the court.

Kayla also read an impact statement written by her little brother.

"My dad should be very ashamed of his actions on Feb. 3, 2010. His actions have now forced me to never see my mother again," Michael wrote.

The 44-year-old victim's mother, Margaret Lynch, also read an impact statement.

"The impact of losing a child is like no other. No matter how old they are or whether they died from an accident, sickness or something as horrible as domestic violence, it just stays in your heart," Mrs. Lynch said.

She recalled attending a vigil for domestic violence victims not long after her daughter's death. Mr. Early, one of the speakers, talked about how domestic violence "starts with dating," Mrs. Lynch said.

Thinking back on her daughter's relationship with Mr. Rosiello, which began in high school, the victim's mother said she came to realize that the "turmoil" began while they were still dating. She spoke of the death of her husband, Bill, that followed his daughter's slaying.

"Bill's heart was truly broken, and we lost him 4� months after Maureen's death," she said.

Mrs. Lynch talked about how Maureen's sister, Christine Carney, and brother-in-law, Peter Carney, took the "traumatized" Rosiello children into their home after their mother was killed.

"They are raising them with discipline and love, as they did their own two grown sons," she said.

"The children have come so far because of the love of relatives, friends, parents of friends and teachers. They will be like their mother, full of hope and love. You took that away from Maureen slowly over the years, growing from anger to abuse," she said to Mr. Rosiello.

"In the end, Keith, love conquers all. Love conquered this tragedy. It has taken four years of counseling, good times, difficult times, but always love. ... No more isolation, no more control, just love," Mrs. Lynch said.

Mr. Rosiello apologized to his children and his wife's family for what he described as, "this tragedy."

"I never wanted it," he said in a barely audible voice.

He called himself a failure as both a husband and father.

"I want you to know that those failures haunt me every day, every night," he said.

Contact Gary V. Murray at gmurray@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @GaryMurrayTG