“A brazen, dangerous and serious crime” was how a magistrate described the shooting of a man who went to a Shepparton house to collect money owed to his friend.
Adam Hasan, 38, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in the County Court to intentionally causing injury, possessing a firearm while a prohibited person, possessing an imitation firearm while a prohibited person and handling stolen goods.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and assault.
The court heard two men went to a third man’s Shepparton house, as that man owed one of them money on September 7, 2021.
Hasan was at the third man’s house, and after a discussion between the other men about when the money would be paid, Hasan approached and said “Remember me?” before shooting one of the men in the chest with a sawn-off shotgun.
The victim was taken to Goulburn Valley Health before being flown to the Alfred Hospital, where he had surgery for a lung injury.
When police searched Hasan’s house, they found seven rounds of ammunition, parts of an imitation firearm gel blaster, which was made to resemble an AR-15 rifle, and a Ducati motorbike that had been stolen from Melbourne in early August.
In a separate incident, Hasan went to an Ardmona home with Jake Doherty, 29, of Mooroopna, and Mario Mazzeo, 41, of Numurkah, on August 19, 2021 and threatened two people.
The court heard Hasan and Mazzeo were carrying guns, and all three men wore balaclavas during the incident.
A woman and a man were both home at the time, and Doherty said to the man “This is a robbery, bitch”, as he tried to muscle his way through the front door of the house.
The man who lived there pushed Doherty back and yelled to the woman to go to get help before the men outside kicked the door in.
Hasan stood about 30cm from the man, pointed the gun at his chest and said “You want to threaten people and their children?”.
While he was doing this, Mazzeo ran out the back door and chased the woman into the yard before pointing the gun at her chest.
Back inside, the man scuffled with Doherty, with the pair trading punches before the resident could escape, running towards a neighbour’s house and yelling “Call the police, there’s a guy with a gun”.
Mazzeo and Doherty have already been sentenced for their part in the crime.
In sentencing Hasan, Judge Gerard Mullaly said the use of firearms was “to be deplored”.
He said while Hasan had a criminal record for drugs and weapons offences, “the aggravated burglary and shooting offence are far and away the most serious you have committed in your life”.
Judge Mullaly said when Hasan won half a million dollars on a scratchie when he was 20, he stopped working and “escalated your drug use”.
He denounced both crimes.
“The shooting of a man, in the middle of the day in the streets of Mooroopna, is a brazen, dangerous and serious crime,” Judge Mullaly said.
He also described the aggravated burglary as a “frightening event” for the victims.
“It was a brazen break-in,” he said.
Hasan was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison, and will have to serve three years before he is eligible for parole.
The 721 days he has spent in pre-sentence detention will count as time already served.