Almost a decade to the day after he shot dead a long-time family rival in the driveway of a suburban Melbourne home, Ali Chaouk has been jailed for his crimes.
Mohammed Haddara was 28 when he was shot five times from behind outside his Fifth Avenue home in Altona North in June 2009, after an argument about a Mercedes borrowed for his sister's wedding.
The Chaouk and the Haddara clans have a lengthy history of animosity and, as he sentenced Chaouk to serve at least 18 years' jail for murder, Justice Kevin Bell said he hoped the convicted killer would be able to bring it to an end.
"A feature of your family is intergenerational violence towards others, which I hope you can see must stop," he said on Thursday, while handing down a maximum 24-year sentence.
"I hope you play a role in your family in making it stop."
But any hope that might happen might've been lost when Chaouk announced to the court the jury's guilty verdict in December was "unsafe" and a "miscarriage of justice".
"It was a big shock to everyone," he said, flagging an appeal and maintaining his innocence.
It wasn't until years after the slaying that Chaouk was charged with the murder, as he approached the end of another lengthy prison sentence.
The now 39-year-old has spent 13 of the past 14 years behind bars, committing the murder in his one year of freedom.
Ahmed Hablas, the cousin of Chaouk's wife, initially confessed to the killing but retracted his statement and was acquitted by a jury in 2011.
He later said he'd confessed out of fear. He gave evidence against Chaouk at trial.
Such a course of events was unprecedented in the Supreme Court's history, Justice Bell said.
The judge was guarded about Chaouk's prospects of rehabilitation, noting he'd already spent much of his adult life behind bars.
At 10, he saw his father shoot a man. His brother was killed in a police raid in 2005 and his father, crime family patriarch Macchour Chaouk, was shot dead in the months before Mr Haddara's killing.
A member of the Haddara family was initially arrested, but never charged, with Mr Chaouk's killing.
"The law should never give up on the prospects of someone avoiding institutionalisation, especially someone like you who, out of self-respect, wants to do so," Justice Bell said of Chaouk.
Justice Bell acknowledged Mr Haddara's family would be grappling with the tragedy as the anniversary approaches next week.
The crime also had a widespread effect on the community, he said.
He praised a woman who rushed into the street to protect Mr Haddara's body until police and paramedics arrived.
"The court commends this woman. She brought credit to the community," he said.
Australian Associated Press
