The heartbroken mother of a man killed over a $250 drug debt says “a part of me is gone forever”.
Griffin Harris was fatally shot at his Kalkallo house in Melbourne’s north on September 21, 2022 following a violent confrontation.
Dean John Bell faced the Supreme Court in Melbourne today after pleading guilty to homicide by firearm over his role in the violent home invasion.
Wearing balaclavas and armed with a rifle, Bell and three co-accused – Lachlan Kyle Belmore, Troy Allen Smith and Peter Batsanes – arrived at Harris’ home about 4.10am.
There had been growing animosity between Belmore and Harris over a $250 drug debt which escalated into angry texts and calls, the court was told.
Smith and Batsanes were out the front of the house and had banged and kicked the front door before retreating back to the car, waking Harris and his girlfriend in the home.
Belmore, alleged to be holding the rifle, and Bell had jumped the fence to get into the backyard but Bell did not enter the house.
Harris’ girlfriend went to investigate a disturbance in the hallway when she came face-to-face with a man pointing the rifle at her head.
She ran to a neighbour’s house and heard a man yell, “get the f— down” and then Harris yelling for help.
Harris’ head, arms and abdomen were beaten before he was fatally shot through the chest.
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He was pronounced dead at 5.55am. The firearm has never been recovered.
His mother told the court his death had affected every aspect of her life and she continues to struggle with day-to-day activities.
“I feel a sense of loss, hopelessness, sorrow, like a part of me is gone forever,” Lorraine Harris said on Wednesday.
“I sit with my son at his grave to feel close to him, to spend time with him. My heart is broken.”
Defence barrister Glenn Casement said Bell, who has spent 695 days on remand, had shown progress in his rehabilitation and was remorseful of his role in the home invasion.
He argued his client should receive a comparatively lower punishment to Belmore, as he claimed Bell was not the principal offender.
Belmore pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May on one charge of manslaughter, after prosecutors were unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was the shooter.
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Batsanes and Smith both pleaded guilty to home invasion and were sentenced in 2023.
“Belmore organised the co-accused, he organised the gun, Belmore entered the house and afterwards Belmore got rid of the gun,” Casement said.
Prosecutor Jane Warren accepted Bell wasn’t the shooter but said he was still a party to an agreement to threaten and confront Harris with a firearm that he knew was loaded.
“He participated in this with no real reason to doing so,” Warren said.
“It was Belmore’s dispute and grievance. Why Bell involved himself frankly remains unexplained.”
Bell will be sentenced at a later date.
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