A Canberra grandfather was sitting down at home trying to enjoy an evening with his family before his granddaughter's screams alerted him to an intruder and a stranger shot him in the chest.
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The man's victim impact statement was read aloud in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday at the sentence hearing of 33-year-old marijuana grower Benjamin Darrell Hallam.
Hallam faces jail time for five offences, including recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm, and told a psychologist going to the Alexander Maconochie Centre would be like attending a "school reunion".
He took the witness stand on Wednesday and reiterated his version of events; that, on the night of May 30 last year, his drunk and "hysterical" partner Isabella Denis, 21, told him she'd been beaten up by "black men".
Hallam said his alcohol consumption was "erratic" that day and he'd also had cocaine, but he believed Denis as "anyone would have" if they'd heard the way she was speaking.
There was no truth to what Denis had said - she'd mistakenly knocked on the door of a stranger's Dunlop home, then later had to be carried off the road by the concerned resident who she struck in the face and told to "f--- off".
But Hallam didn't know that, and went to the resident's Dunlop home armed with an unlicensed pump-action shotgun, along with his mate Paul John Fredrickson, 35, who had a baseball bat.
Hallam said he heard a "commotion", which was Fredrickson striking a glass door pane at the front of the home, and tried to fire his gun in the air to get the residents to come out but the gun didn't work.
He said he was playing with a mechanism on the gun to try to figure out what was wrong with it, when it misfired and a bullet went through the front door and struck the grandfather inside in his chest.
The grandfather had been in a tussle with Fredrickson, and had tried to grab the baseball bat off him after he smashed it through the glass pane.
"Words can't explain how I'm very sorry that this has all happened," Hallam told the court on Wednesday.
"It has affected a lot of people and it will probably stay with them for life.
"I wasn't thinking at all."
The grandfather said in a victim impact statement he saw the smoke from the gun and heard it firing, but initially didn't realise he had been shot. His teenage son saw blood coming from his chest.
By that time, his wife and eight-year-old granddaughter had fled to a neighbour's house.
"It was such a shock to have people invade my home," the grandfather said.
"My granddaughter no longer feels safe without me."
The man's wife said she and her granddaughter were shaking when they fled the home, and she was trying to stop the child from crying and screaming.
"I was thinking you only see these things on television," she said in her victim impact statement.
"My husband is a quiet, gentle man and [the incident] has changed him greatly."
Hallam's sister also took the witness stand. She said her brother made poor decisions a "majority of the time" and had been impulsive, but she needed him to help support their family.
"[He told me after the incident] he was going there to scare them," Hallam's sister said.
"He was going there because he was scared for Isabella's life."
Hallam's defence barrister John Purnell SC said Justice John Burns should take into consideration the impact jailing Hallam would have on his family.
The 33-year-old was due to be sentenced on June 18.
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Cassandra Morgan
It has never been more important for Canberrans to be able to access reliable and accurate information about health. As The Canberra Times’ health reporter, I am committed to ensuring our readers have access to this. I, like many in the territory, have family members who work in the sector. Although providing comprehensive coverage on the coronavirus pandemic is obviously my number one priority, I aim to frequently shed light on the fantastic work our frontline professionals do, as well as the challenges they face. Email me tips and story ideas at: c.morgan@canberratimes.com.au.
It has never been more important for Canberrans to be able to access reliable and accurate information about health. As The Canberra Times’ health reporter, I am committed to ensuring our readers have access to this. I, like many in the territory, have family members who work in the sector. Although providing comprehensive coverage on the coronavirus pandemic is obviously my number one priority, I aim to frequently shed light on the fantastic work our frontline professionals do, as well as the challenges they face. Email me tips and story ideas at: c.morgan@canberratimes.com.au.
