…Researched and contributed by Enitan Thompson.
Osman Shaptafaj, a Melbourne father who executed his daughter and her husband on their one-year wedding anniversary, has returned to court to appeal his sentence.
Shaptafaj, who was 55 at the time, shot his estranged daughter, Lindita Musai, 25, and her husband, Venton Musai, 29, in the head after lying in wait for about two hours.
Shaptafaj became enraged after learning of his daughter’s marriage, and drove to the Musais’ home to wait for them to return.
His lawyer argued that the 35-year jail sentence, handed down in February 2021, was excessive and that he would likely die in prison.
Shaptafaj’s barrister, Rishi Nathwani, argued that 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.
Crown prosecutor Diana Piekusis KC labelled the murders a premeditated, cold-blooded killing.
She argued that the seriousness of the offending outweighed the factors that would normally lead to a reduction in a prison sentence.
The court will hand down its judgment at a later date.
The murder took place on New Year’s Eve in 2019.
Shaptafaj waited for the couple to return to Mr Musai’s parents’ home in Yarraville and shot them as they rang the doorbell before walking away to a nearby park and turning the gun on himself.
The then-55-year-old was handed a life sentence after pleading guilty to the double murder.
Justice Phillip Priest told the court it was difficult to imagine a more callous crime committed against one’s own child and their partner.
He described the murders as cold-blooded killings committed over the fact that Shaptafaj’s dignity was offended.
Priest stated that there are some killings that are so bad that only a sentence of life imprisonment is appropriate.
Drilon Musai, Venton Musai’s brother, said outside court that he wanted people to remember the couple 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.