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Home / World

Melbourne father Osman Shaptafaj fatally shot daughter Lindita and her husband Veton Musai

By Anthony Piovesan
news.com.au·
22 Dec, 2021 02:03 AM4 mins to read

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Chilling details have been aired in court on how a Melbourne father walked up behind his daughter and son-in-law and shot them both in the head.

A Melbourne father lurked for nearly two hours outside the house of his daughter before gunning her down when she returned home from her first wedding anniversary.

Osman Shaptafaj also fatally shot his daughter's husband at close range as the newlywed couple brought their holiday bags from the Uber to the front door of their Yarraville home.

The 56-year-old pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to murdering his daughter Lindita and her husband Veton Musai, and faced a pre-sentence hearing.

Chilling details of the crime were read out in court where it was revealed Shaptafaj had first circled the Salisbury Street home in his car multiple times about 8.30am on December 31, 2019.

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Veton Musai, 29, and Lindita Musai, 25, both died after a New Year's Eve shooting in 2019. Photo / Supplied
Veton Musai, 29, and Lindita Musai, 25, both died after a New Year's Eve shooting in 2019. Photo / Supplied

The Altona man then parked and waited for Lindita and Musai to return home.

The couple arrived in an Uber about 10.30am from a weekend stay in the CBD where they had celebrated their first wedding anniversary, the court heard.

It was after the pair had grabbed their bags from the rideshare vehicle and were making their way to the front door when Shaptafaj got out of his car, walked up behind them and shot them both in the head.

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Family members at home at the time opened the front door when they heard the gunshots and then saw Shaptafaj hold a gun to his own head, the court heard.

Shaptafaj then fled the scene to a nearby golf course where he then shot himself twice in the head.

He was rushed to hospital, and survived.

Lindita died at the scene, and Mr Musai died the next day at the Alfred Hospital.

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Musai's brother Drilon addressed the court on Wednesday morning and choked back tears as he recalled the horrific incident.

"I arrived at the scene to see my father who was the rock of our family crumbled in a heap on the street, my mother was buckled over in a trance screaming," he told the court.

"Seeing my younger brother colour drained sitting on the gutter and seeing my wife pale ... seeing my family broken in a heap in front of me and knowing your life was never going to be the same but the worst of it was knowing that it never would.

"I never thought at 31 (years old) I would be sitting in a hospital room with my younger brother there laying in front of me on life support and having to tell the nurses to switch off the machine so I could finally let him pass.

"I didn't lose two family members that day, I lost my whole family."

Shaptafaj was estranged from his daughter and son Arben after his marriage ended in 2009.

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Defence lawyer Tanya Skortsova said Shaptafaj had "deeply mourned the loss of his family unit" following the divorce, and was suffering from a "major depressive disorder" at the time he committed the crime.

Arben Shaptafaj walked Lindita Musai down the aisle when she got married. Photo / Supplied
Arben Shaptafaj walked Lindita Musai down the aisle when she got married. Photo / Supplied

The court also heard he had become "highly socially reclusive" after a motorcycle accident left him unable to work.

"This inability meant he was cut off from the only remaining connection to the outside world," Skortsova said.

Justice Andrew Tinney described the offending as "calculated and planned" and questioned how Shaptafaj's ill mental health clouded his judgement on December 31, 2019.

"The accused armed himself with a loaded handgun and went off in search of and to lay and wait for his daughter from whom he had been estranged for 10 years ... He came up behind them and shot them in the head.

"This seems to be calculated, planned behaviour directed towards people walking towards their home, and for his own reasons of which felt aggrieved.

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"What's the state of depression got to do with that?"

Shaptafaj pleaded guilty to two charges of murder in February of this year.

The maximum sentence for the crimes is life in prison.

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