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The gunman who killed three people and killed another in a drug-driven shooting in Darwin will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of release.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann pleaded guilty mid-trial to the intentional killing of Hassan Baydoun, 33, Michael Sisois, 57, and Rob Courtney, 52, and the manslaughter of 75-year-old Nigel Hellings, on June 4, 2019.
The 48-year-old was sentenced Thursday in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to three life sentences for the three murders and 15 years for manslaughter, with Judge John Burns refusing to grant a parole.
Hoffmann was also convicted of six other charges, including three counts of reckless death, drug possession and one of threatening to kill.
The massacre was the largest mass shooting without family members since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
Hoffmann was high on methamphetamine when he shot and killed the four men while hunting a man named Alex Deligiannis, who he believes had stolen his ex-girlfriend, Kelly Collins.
He shot Mr Baydoun four times with a double-barreled shotgun at the Palms Motel in central Darwin.
Bodybuilding Darwin man Benjamin Hoffman, responsible for one of the worst shootings in Australia, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a shooting that killed four people in 2019
Mr Hellings was shot through the front door of his apartment building about half a mile away.
Hoffmann’s next victim was his buddy, Mr. Sisois, whom he shot in the head in the parking lot at the nearby Buff Club bar and restaurant.
Mr Courtney was murdered in an industrial estate at Darwin Recycling, about 1.5 miles away.
He was found with 69 injuries, including 36 stab and cuts, multiple blunt wounds and a gunshot wound.
Mr Deligiannis had previously visited three of the sites on a regular basis.
Hoffman shot and killed Hassan Baydoun (left), 33, and Michael Sisois (right), 57, during the horrific frenzy
Hoffmann and Mrs. Collins met in early 2019 at a rehab center, where the couple made plans to move in together after they left the program.
But two weeks before the shooting, Ms Collins sent Hoffmann a text saying she was in love with Mr Deligiannis and learned that she had started taking methamphetamines again.
Hoffmann previously told the court that the news turned his world upside down.
Hoffmann shot and killed four men in 2019 at four different locations (pictured) in Darwin, places he knew the man he was hunting frequented
Hoffmann, now 48, (pictured after the 2019 shooting) pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and one count of manslaughter before receiving his life sentence
“It got out of hand with Kelly,” he told Judge John Burns.
Hoffmann has alleged that a group of men supplied Mrs. Collins with drugs, raped her and forced her to work as a prostitute.
“She had men stalking her and (also) me,” he said.
He told the court that the couple met “naturally” while drug-free in rehab after he was released from prison and planned to move in together, but her regression had left them vulnerable.
‘I tried to save her. I feared for my life and my girlfriend,” he said.
On the day of the murders, Hoffmann believed Mrs. Collins, an ex-prostitute, was in danger and likely suffered bodily harm.
“I had full visions of Kelly being held as a hostage against her will. The night before I was convinced I had been poisoned and I believed she was,’ he said.