A Melbourne grandfather has been spared jail after shooting a contractor over a long-running rubbish clearing dispute.
Paolo Mannici, 90, was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to engaging in reckless conduct endangering life and possessing an unregistered handgun during the shooting at his Ravenhall worksite in 2020.
Judge Damien Murphy noted both offences carry maximum penalties of seven and 10 years in prison respectively, but instead ordered the property developer to pay a $20,000 fine and forfeit his pistol and any bullets.
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“I have determined … that imposing a community corrections order on you would be of no efficacy,” he told the County Court.
“At your age, the community would be better served if you could put this unfortunate event behind you.”
Mannici, who migrated to Australia from Italy in 1951 at age 20, hired 59-year-old Raymond Pasco to clear the worksite in 2020, paying him an initial deposit of $15,000 with $12,500 still owing.
The invoice stated there would be extra fees if any contaminated soil was found at the site, so when the victim found burnt tyres buried in the soil, he told Mannici he would stop work unless he paid more.
Mannici refused, telling the Mr Pasco he was broke and could not afford it.
Over the following months, the contractor hired debt collectors and dumped rubbish at the site.
On December 9, Mannici was at his Ravenhall lot when Mr Pasco arrived and began dumping another truck load of rubbish.
The pair got involved in a struggle and two gun shots went off, one striking the victim in his right forearm.
He required surgery and still suffers nerve pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his victim impact statement.
The former bus driver told police he didn’t mean to shoot the victim and he only had the gun to protect himself.
Judge Murphy said Mannici bore “significant blame” for the contractual dispute, but acknowledged the victim’s coercive threats explained his out-of-character behaviour.
“Given your age, frailty, use of a walking stick and the provocative conduct by Mr Pascoe you were substantially provoked by his conduct,” he said.
“In a civilised society, however, people must use the courts to resolve commercial disputes otherwise we will have the law of the jungle.
“The building and the development industry is well known for ruthless behaviour. The conduct of Mr Pascoe went well over the line. Your conduct reached into the criminal law.”
If not for his early guilty plea, the judge said he would have sentenced Mannici – who has three adult children as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren – to a nine-month jail term.