A group of men have been jailed over fatally shooting Noble Park North standover man Tommy Loulanting with a sawn-off shotgun in 2022.
Zeeshan Mehdi, 37, Moweit Qian, 28, and Dara Chau, 46, were found guilty by a Victorian Supreme Court jury of murder and affray.
They were party to an agreement to shoot and kill Mr Loulanting, Justice Amanda Fox stated in sentencing on 29 August.
Prosecutors did not specify which of them pulled the trigger.
Trung Nguyen, 41, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and affray.
Mr Loulanting, a standover man who used violence and intimidation on others, was ambushed shortly after he entered a Corrigan Road unit just before 6am on 11 July 2022.
He used meth and had a reputation for being “violent, unstable and aggressive” with violent prior convictions.
At the time, he was engaged by a woman Kristina Subu to recover $2000 given to her friend, who was also Mehdi’s wife.
There was a dispute between the women on whether it was a loan or gift.
On 8 July, Mr Loulanting and an associate collected Mehdi and tourtured, beat, tasered and humiliated him. A deadline was set for him to repay the money.
Mehdi was then driven by revenge as well as fear of what Mr Loulanting would do next, Justice Fox stated.
A few hours before the shooting at 2am, Mr Loulanting – armed with a baseball bat – made an “unplanned attendance” at the Corrigan Road unit.
After learning of the visit, Mehdi genuinely believed Mr Loulanting with up to eight others was hunting for him, the judge stated.
Mehdi messaged Ms Subu, misleading her that he was catching an Uber to her address.
“This was never his plan,” Justice Fox stated.
“Instead, the plan was to have Ms Subu attend at (the Corrigan Road unit), which is what occurred.
“Mr Mehdi knew, or expected, that Ms Subu would be accompanied by Mr Loulanting.”
Nguyen covered a nearby unit’s CCTV camera before all four entered and waited for Ms Subu and Mr Loulanting.
Inside, Mr Loulanting was shot in the back of the leg, struck three times with a bladed weapon and then shot again fatally to the face.
The affray charges related to Ms Subu and her boyfriend being chased outside by Mehdi, who was armed with a pole.
Qian had the shotgun, pointing it at Ms Subu. Justice Fox was satisfied that Qian fired at least one of the two shots into Mr Loulanting.
Chau had a machete and Nguyen also some type of weapon.
The four accused left in the car.
“I shot your boy,” Mehdi later told Ms Subu in a phone call.
Two months later, Qian texted ‘Big Jace’: “I knew I shouldve (sic) dropped her too lol. I reloaded for her. But didnt (sic) pull. 6am traffic in Corrigan.”
After their arrest, neither Mehdi and Qian admitted shooting the victim, or having murderous intent.
In his police interview, Mehdi argued self-defence.
Justice Fox said Mehdi had other options – such as avoiding the victim by remaining in 24-hour pokies venues that night, and arranging to meet Ms Subu in a public place.
“While his desire for revenge was mixed with fear, he had no right to do what he did.”
Chau and Qian’s culpability was also high, with the judge rejecting it was a spontaneous plan.
Chau denied being inside the unit during the shooting or being part of the affray.
Out of the four, Mehdi had the most serious priors, including violence, and was on bail at the time.
The permanent resident visa holder was in protected custody while in remand, and faced the prospect of deportation.
Born in Pakistan, the Afghan Hazara man and his family fled to Australia as refugees.
He was afflicted with complex PTSD and childhood trauma, including having two close family members killed in bombing attacks in Pakistan.
“I accept that prior to arriving in Australia, you faced the type of violence, trauma and fear that many people would never experience in their lifetime.”
Mehdi was jailed for 27 years, with a non-parole period of 21 years.
Qian and Chau were both sentenced to 26 years jail, with 20-year non-parole periods.
Justice Fox accepted that Nguyen was not part of the agreement and unaware of the shotgun – hence he pled to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Nguyen was jailed for nine-and-a-half years, with a six-and-a-half year non-parole period.
