A Melbourne, Australia dad who lay in wait outside his daughter‘s home before executing her and her husband on their one-year wedding anniversary over a grudge has returned to court.
Osman Shaptafaj, 58, faced the Victorian Court of Appeal on Wednesday where his lawyer argued the 35-year jail sentence was excessive and that he would likely die in prison.
Shaptafaj was handed a life sentence in February last year after pleading guilty to the callous double murder on New Year’s Eve in 2019.
The then-55-year-old had become enraged after learning his estranged daughter, Lindita Musai, 25, had married her husband Venton Musai, 29, a year earlier.
He drove to Mr Musai’s parents’ home in Yarraville, lying in wait for about two hours for the pair to return, before shooting each in the head as they rang the doorbell.
Shaptafaj then walked away from the house to a nearby park and turned the gun on himself.
In court, his barrister Rishi Nathwani argued his client had received the maximum sentence possible, despite being entitled to a discount for his plea, disabilities and the impact of serving a prison sentence during Covid-19.
“We say it’s rather manifestly excessive when considering all the factors,” he said.
“The sentence would mean this man would almost inevitably die in prison.”
Crown prosecutor Diana Piekusis KC labelled the murders a premeditated, cold-blooded killing.
She argued the seriousness of the offending outweighed the factors which normally would lead to a reduction in a prison sentence.
“It was well open for the judge to find that only a sentence of life imprisonment could satisfy the sentencing requirements,” she said.
“(There should not be) a sense of a guarantee of release when one commits this offence.”
She told the court the young pair were at the start of their lives together, when Shaptafaj murdered them amid his resentment over their marriage.
Justice Phillip Priest told the court it was difficult to imagine a more callous crime committed against one’s own child and their partner.
“These were cold-blooded killings carried out for what may have just been the fact that your client’s dignity was offended,” he said.
“There are some killings that are just so bad, nothing other than a sentence of life imprisonment is appropriate.”
The court, presided over by justices Phillip Priest, Stephen Kaye and Kim Hargrave, will hand down its judgment at a later date.
Outside of court, Drilon Musai said he wanted people to remember his brother and sister-in-law for who they were, not how they died.
“Bringing this up again just reminds you of what happened to Venton and Lindita, not who they were,” he said.
“We’re hoping that common sense prevails and we don’t have to go through this again.”