Family members of a man killed in a point blank shotgun murder in Wodonga have spoken of their devastation at losing the father-of-four.
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Benjamin Paul Stiler shot Duwayne Johnson on Woodland Street in the early hours of January 16, 2022.
The Wodonga Supreme Court on Monday heard after arriving in the area in a car with a loaded gun, and speaking to his cousin, Stiler had shot the first person he'd seen.
Stiler had been called by his cousin, Braidan, to pick him up amid his concerns about the behaviour of some people at a small gathering.
A shirtless Mr Johnson walked up to Stiler's vehicle, and Stiler shot Mr Johnson in the chest with a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun before driving over him.
The gun was discharged at a distance of 3 to 4.5 metres away and Stiler fled the area.
Mr Johnson, 26, died on the road.
Stiler was involved in police pursuits as he tried to avoid arrest over the following six days, and travelled as far as South Australia before being taken into custody in Melbourne.
The gun was recovered by police.
A jury found Stiler guilty of murder on November 13 last year and the prosecution says the 27-year-old had shown a complete lack of remorse.
Three of Mr Johnson's family members provided victim impact statements, outlining their pain to the court on April 29.
"I write this with a heavy broken heart that will never heal," the late man's mother Patricia said.
"The loss of my baby boy, Duwayne Nathan Johnson.
"We had a mother-son bond that will never be broken.
"We love and miss him every day.
"I'll be there for the kids as much as I can.
"No sentence will ever bring my son back but I hope justice is served today.
"My life will never be the same, I suffer every day without my boy.
"I love you and I miss you."
Mr Johnson's sister, Rebecca, said the "horrid crime" had impacted the entire family.
"For me, every day is different," she said.
"Some days I feel angry.
"Some days I feel lost.
"But most days, I just feel sadness."
His sister said she had recurring thoughts about what happened to her brother and was "overwhelmed with negative emotions".
"It feels like me and my family have been handed a life sentence," she said.
"The silence heard around the house these days is deafening.
"It's painful."
The late man's niece, Javayah, said Mr Johnson was the best uncle she had ever met.
Stiler, who sat in the dock flanked by security, did not react when the statements were read aloud, but Justice Andrew Tinney thanked the late man's family.
"It's important that the court gets to hear first hand what the effects of this terrible event are on family members and loved ones," he said.
"I do realise it's a very difficult thing for people who are in this terribly sad situation to talk about the impact on their lives and feelings, but I thank you very much for doing it.
"It takes a lot of courage to do it."
The court heard Stiler feared reprisals while in custody.
He has already served about 830 days on remand at the Melbourne Assessment Prison with the court told he had PTSD and insomnia.
Justice Tinney said there was a question about whether Stiler was remorseful "in the true sense".
"What he was doing from the very moment he fired the shot was seeking to evade and avoid responsibility," he said.
Justin Tinney noted that Stiler, years after the incident, had given a dishonest account to a psychologist claiming the gun had fallen out of his car, and he'd accidentally shot the victim when he picked up the weapon.
Stiler maintained he had no intention to shoot Mr Johnson.
"I struggle to accept he doesn't know exactly what he did," the judge said, noting it was hard to see his account to the psychologist as being anything other than dishonest.
Stiler's mother wiped away tears in court.
Defence lawyer Leighton Gwynn said his client's IQ was at the bottom seven percent of the population and said Stiler thought about the victim's death daily.
Mr Gwynn said his client acknowledged he had destroyed the late man's family.
The court heard Stiler had 22 pages of criminal priors, including for weapons offences, and started using ice at age 17.
Mr Gwynn said Stiler had been bashed and belittled by his father while growing up and giving derisive nicknames which had done "untold damage".
Other incidents had left him with PTSD, he said.
He has spent time in custody for previous offences but Mr Gwynn said the 27-year-old was "determined that his days of drug use are behind him".
Justice Tinney said he wanted to sentence Stiler as soon as possible, with the matter to return to court on a date to be fixed.
