A heavyweight boxer has been jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of shooting a man with a shotgun after robbing a Kingsville bottleshop.
The Supreme Court heard that on the day after the 2011 AFL grand final, brothers Craig and Wayne Vitale drove their mother’s car to the Do Bottle Shop on Geelong Road and entered with their faces covered, Craig carrying a loaded sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun.
He pointed the gun at the shopkeeper and demanded she open the cash register, firing a shot at the register when she failed to act.
Wayne left the shop with a slab or two of Jim Beam cans in his bag and another under his arm.
Craig pointed the shotgun at the shopkeeper and her son as he left the store, warning them not to do anything stupid.
Justice Michael Croucher said while the ordeal lasted only about 40 seconds, the shopkeeper and her son “must have been terrified for every moment”.
The court heard that as the brothers drove off, they noticed Noel Kennedy driving behind them, after he had stopped to pick up fish and chips for his family.
Wayne stopped the car and Craig walked up to Mr Kennedy’s car, firing through his closed driver’s side window.
The bulk of the shot struck Mr Kennedy’s left wrist, some pellets also striking his right shoulder.
The injuries have required multiple surgeries and his physical recovery was described as “slow, arduous, painful and incomplete”.
Craig was arrested later that month and interviewed about the armed robbery and the shooting.
He denied the offending, saying he was at a birthday party in Endeavour Hills at the time. He said a cousin named James Lua attending the party later that night claimed to have committed an armed robbery and to have shot a man.
Despite Craig not having a cousin by that name, he was released without charge.
After CCTV footage of the armed robbery was aired in June 2016, almost five years later, police covertly recorded conversations between the Vitale brothers.
The court heard that in the recorded conversation, Craig said: “I should have [blown] his head off when I had the chance.”
Craig, who is now 29, was arrested and charged with various offences, including armed robbery and attempted murder.
Wayne was arrested at Tullamarine Airport and denied involvement until the covert recordings were played to him.
He entered a guilty plea in the County Court last April and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Craig maintained his innocence, but in August a jury found him guilty of armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury.
He was last month sentenced to 11 years in jail with a seven-year non-parole period.
