An evil father waited for his estranged daughter and her new husband to come back from their first anniversary celebration before he cruelly gunned them down.
Lindita and her husband Veton Musai arrived at the front door of their Yarraville home when they were fatally shot at close range on December 31, 2019.
The pair died just a day apart, with Ms Musai dying at the scene and her husband at hospital the next day.
After Osman Shaptafaj shot his estranged daughter and her husband, he cooly ranxjmtzywg the doorbell and left the dying pair on the porch.
The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment for both crimes in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday.
“You settled upon an evil plan which almost defies belief,” Justice Andrew Tinney said.
He said Shaptafaj’s “sad and isolated” state was at the heart of his crimes and that he was especially driven by his anger and resentment towards his daughter and son-in-law.
It was revealed in court Mr Shaptafaj heard “third hand” through his landlord about the wedding of his estranged daughter and was angry he wasn’t invited. He was also enraged and felt “disrespected” because Mr Musai did not seek permission to marry his daughter.
His daughter had not spoken to him for years and expressed her hatred of him for his history of controlling and violent behaviour.
“What you planned was the cold-hearted, vicious and cowardly murder of two defenceless people,” Justice Tinney said.
On the day of the killing, he circled the Salisbury St home in his car multiple times about 8.30am, before he parked and waited for the couple to arrive home.
They arrived back two hours later from their weekend stay in the city, where the couple celebrated their first anniversary.
He walked up behind them and shot them both in the head as they were at the front door with their belongings from their trip.
Outside court Drilon Musai – Veton’s brother – said the loss of the couple was a “life sentence” for them.
“The only thing we’re looking forward to is the fact that we can finally move on and not be dragged back to that day,” he said.
At the pre-sentence hearing, Mr Musai was one of 28 people who told the court about the impact of the shocking crime on their lives.
“I pray that nobody ever goes through what we have, as we all died that day. Our lives, as well as the lives of everyone Veton and Lindita knew, will never be the same,” he said in a moving statement.
After he killed the couple he went to a nearby golf course where in “cowardly fashion” he shot himself twice, Justice Tinney said.
It also emerged in court the killer previously severed his own finger and mailed it to his ex-wife, along with a letter.
At the pre-sentence hearing, Shaptafaj’s lawyer confirmed it occurred, but it did not form part of the evidence in the newlyweds’ murder.
Shaptafaj was left with a brain injury after he shot himself and also lost his right eye, the court was told.
He claims he has no memory of the lead up to the crime or the murder and instead believed he was stuck in a “glitch” of a popular video game he had been playing.
His lawyers explored whether the killer was mentally impaired at the time of the murders because of his continuous depression and isolation, but Justice Tinney found there was no evidence he was in a psychotic state.
Instead, he knew what he was doing was wrong, carried out the plan with “chilling effect” and had several hours to reconsider the plot.
Shaptafaj will be in his early 90s when he will be able to apply for parole, in 35 years.
