Carla Elena was so convinced her brother knew something about the hit-and-run death of Sydney schoolboy Bryce Rolls that she gave him an ultimatum.
Recounting the conversation before Deputy NSW Coroner Paul MacMahon today, Mrs Elena said she told her brother: "If you don't go to the police with your information, then me and my husband will.
"You have got until five o'clock."
Eight-year-old Bryce had been fatally struck as he crossed Harrow Road, Kogarah, two days earlier.
Mrs Elena's brother, Peter Graham, had paid her an unexpected visit that same night, telling her he'd just hit something - perhaps a box - near the Harrow Road underpass.
In Glebe Coroner's Court today, she said she thought nothing of that information until the next day, when she saw news reports of a hit-and-run crash involving a child in the same area.
"I did remember panicking a little bit, thinking the worst I guess," Mrs Elena today told the inquest into Bryce's death.
"My brother is telling me - gone out of his way to tell me - he's hit something on Harrow Road, the same place (as the accident) and so obviously I'm going to worry."
She called her best friend Jenny Rodaro, to discuss her fears.
Ms Rodaro today said Mrs Elena told her: "I think my brother may have run over the kid. I asked him if he did it, he said he didn't."
She said Mrs Elena had added: "I don't believe him. I told him to go to the police."
Mrs Elena today said she called her brother on May 2, 2003, and told him to hand himself in to the authorities.
"I thought if he did do it (hit Bryce), maybe he would be scared. I just wanted him to go forward and clear his name or vice versa," she said.
Mrs Elena told the inquest she rang police later that day to check that her brother had called, and she was satisfied he had "done what he was supposed to do".
Also today, a neighbour of Mr Graham's girlfriend, Anne Piper, told the inquest she was woken one night in late April or early May 2003 by a conversation underneath her bedroom window.
Dianne Morrison said she heard a couple she believed to be Ms Piper and Mr Graham discussing an accident in urgent, hushed tones.
"You don't understand, it was really bad," the male voice allegedly said.
"You should have seen it, it happened so fast, it happened so quick."
Samantha Symes, who was the only person aside from Bryce's brother Jarrod to witness the accident, said she watched in shock and disbelief as the car sped away.
"I heard a scream and I saw a car in front of me," Ms Symes said.
"The car appeared as though it was driving over something.
"I literally saw the car go up and over and then it took off. There didn't seem to be any hesitation."
It was late dusk and too dark to make out the car's registration, she said, while tinted windows made it impossible to see the driver or anyone else inside.
Mr Graham, who has been named as the main suspect at the inquest, is expected to give evidence tomorrow.