Benjamin Mitchell, Alfred Rigney, Aaron Carver and Matt Tenhoopen jailed for Para Vista grow house slaying of Urim Gjabri

Four men guilty of the brutal bashing murder of an Albanian man at a drug house will spend decades in jail.

Four men found guilty of the brutal bashing murder of an Albanian man at a northern-suburbs grow house during a “drug rip that went terribly wrong” will each spent at least 20 years in jail.

Urim Gjabri, 46, was left with a fatal head wound during a home invasion about 12.30am on October 8, 2018.

Benjamin John Mitchell, 34, Alfred Claude Rigney, 47, Matt Bernard Tenhoopen, 25, and Aaron Donald Carver, 38, were each found guilty of the murder of Mr Gjabri.

The men each travelled from Murray Bridge to conduct a “drug rip” of a large cannabis crop at a grow house in Para Vista.

In sentencing on Monday, Supreme Court Justice David Lovell said the intention of the men was “not necessarily to injure any person present”.

“I accept for all of you that such an outcome was not a part of the plan,” he said.

He said it was “not clear exactly how or when” the plan to steal the crop was entered into, but said it was “clearly afoot” when the men departed Murray Bridge.

Carver, Tenhoopen and Mitchell drove to Adelaide with a fifth man, Jason Paul Howell, and met Rigney in a street nearby the grow house.

The only known photo of Urim Gjabri, released by the Supreme Court during the trial of the four men for his murder.

They were caught on CCTV walking to the grow house, with one picking up a stick on the way.

Justice Lovell said it unlikely to be the murder weapon.

“It is likely that the weapon used to inflict the fatal blow on Mr Gjabri was actually in the house,” he said.

“In the space of about 20 minutes the cannabis plants were stripped and Mr Gjabri was assaulted.

“Mr Gjabri was hit over the head with an item at least once, possibly twice, the blow causing a fracture of his skill.”

He also suffered multiple bruises and abrasions on his arms and legs “consistent with blunt force injury”.

Images posted on social media and released by the court of the drug grow house. Picture: Supplied

Images posed on social media and released by the court of a stolen drug crop being stripped following the murder of Albanian refugee Urim Gjabri. Picture: Supplied

Mr Gjabri survived for between 35 minutes to 24 hours after brutal bashing and “blood staining” around the house showed he had moved around after the blow.

The men loaded the cannabis into Mr Gjabri’s car and then drove to their cars a few streets away.

“You were all talking loudly, so loudly in fact that some residents came out of their houses to see what was going on,” Justice Lovell said.

“There was so much cannabis that you had stolen that you struggled to fit it into the car.

“One of you even offered cannabis to a witness if he helped you transfer it into Mitchell’s car.”

The men were each arrested over the following two months.

Justice Lovell said the murder had a “profound impact” financially and emotionally on Mr Gjabri’s family in Albania.

The men were found guilty of felony murder, which Justice Lovell found was at the lower end of the scale of objective seriousness for the crime.

“I cannot be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt as to who inflicted the fatal blow on Mr Gjabri … at least one blow was struck by one of you or Howell,” he said.

Carver, Tenhoopen and Mitchell were jailed for life, with a non parole period of 20 years. Rigney, who was on parole for an aggravated serious criminal trespass at the time of the murder, was jailed for a minimum of 20 years and three months to include a period of unexpired parole.

Benjamin John Mitchell. Picture: Tom Huntley

Aaron Donald Carver. Picture: Tom Huntley

Each of the men has lodged an appeal against their conviction, which is expected to be heard next month.

Last week at a separate trial, a jury found Howell guilty of Mr Gjabri’s murder.

The other four men stood trial together and argued through their counsel they were either not present when the crime took place or that they had not assaulted Mr Gjabri during the robbery.

Howell, on the other hand, was candid with police and admitted to being sucked into the plan to rob the grow house, which he said had been masterminded by Rigney and Carver.

In a three-hour filmed police interview played to the court Howell said he had been owed money for installing a security system for Carver at his Murray Bridge home.

Instead of being given the money Carver invited Howell to join him and the others on a trip to Adelaide.

Howell said he did now know the purpose of the trip was to raid the drug house.

He told detectives a cricket bat had been used to assault Mr Gjabri several times with one blow breaking the fingers on the victim’s hand as he tried to protect his head from further blows.

By the end of the assault he described the bat as “floppy” from where it had broken from the force of the blows.

He was paid in several bags of stolen cannabis which he kept in his home for several days after the murder.

Justice Sophie David will hear sentencing submissions for Howell in the coming months.