Queen Street Mall gunman Lee Matthew Hillier sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail

THE Queen St Mall gunman sentenced as video of the moment he was shot has been released. SEE THE DRAMATIC VIDEO

QUEEN St Mall gunman Lee Matthew Hillier has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years' jail over the 90-minute standoff last year.

The sentence was handed down today, and came after the release of dramatic CCTV footage showing the final moments of Hillier's standoff with officers.

The footage, released to The Courier Mail this morning, shows Hillier, who took a gun into the busy Queen Street Mall and begged police to shoot him, waving the weapon around at various locations as armed police confront him.

After 90 minutes, Hillier is seen going down after being shot and armed SERT officers swarm over him.

Heavily-armed police swarm around Hillier after he was shot in Queen Street Mall.

Hillier, 35, will be eligible for parole release on September 8 after already serving 323 days in custody on remand.

Outside court, three women who were Hillier's supporters, said only that they loved and missed him.

Mall gunman Lee Hillier is confronted by a plain clothes police officer during last yea...

Brisbane District Court Judge Terry Martin QC told a packed public gallery the man in the prisoner's dock was only alive because of the professionalism of police on the day.

"It seems clear to me you are only alive today because of the professionalism and courage of police involved and their concern for your wellbeing,'' he said.

He told Hillier he caused "havoc'' in the city when he armed himself with an unloaded pistol and pointed it at police on March 8, 2013.

He sentenced Hillier on the basis that the modified replica PPK pistol he brandished, although capable of firing, was unloaded during the siege and he had no ammunition on him at the time.

Judge Martin also accepted Hillier was in "great mental turmoil'' at the time and had only come to the city that day to meet a friend for lunch.

He said it was clear Hillier had no intention to harm anyone else except himself.

Mall gunman 'wanted t...

Judge Martin denounced Hillier's inability to get his life on track after several relapses into a "savage'' drug addiction and a bad criminal history that had seen him return to custody several times throughout his life.

"As a result of your failure to get your life in line, you have inflicted suffering, loss and inconvenienced a great many members of the community over many years,'' he said.

He took into account serious injuries to both Hillier's hands, caused when he was shot by police and during a self-inflicted shooting in January last year, which affected his ability to type and eat.

Yesterday, Hillier told a court he never meant to harm anyone but his life had "spiralled out of control".

The 35-year-old was sentenced for the one-and-a-half-hour CBD stand-off with police that ended when heavily armed SERT officers brought him to the ground with a volley of non-lethal and live rounds on March 8 last year.

GALLERY: QUEEN ST MALL SIEGE

The scene in Queen St Mall during the siege.

He pleaded guilty to a dozen serious charges including assaulting police while armed, going armed so as to cause fear, and dangerous conduct with a weapon. The charges stemmed from the siege and a bizarre separate incident in January last year when he blew off two fingers with a homemade gun.

Hillier told Brisbane District Court Judge Terry Martin QC yesterday he never intended to harm people or cause them fear.

"I am standing here taking responsibility for my own actions and I am glad to be alive and to be here for my three beautiful children," he said.

Police confront Lee Hillier outside the Myer Centre.

He said the death of his best friend during a siege and a relapse to drugs after a stint in prison had led to him being in the mall that day and he "hit rock bottom".

"I wasn't there to harm anybody, but to stand there with an empty handgun and to have 30 police standing there with revolvers fronting you is very confronting, you know?"

Crown prosecutor Belinda Merrin said Hillier had a long criminal history derived from a disadvantaged background and chronic drug addiction.

She said police asked to see Hillier's identification when he appeared agitated in the mall when he "fumbled" through his bumbag and produced a gun.

Queen Street Mall was evacuated, government buildings were locked down and more than 300 buses were delayed while the siege played out.

She said Hillier pointed the unloaded but modified replica PPK pistol at his own neck and towards police during the siege, paced up and down, was seen "frothing" at the mouth and asked police to shoot him.

She said his level of "concern" for public safety was demonstrated by his request to police for a cigarette: "I don't give a f--- about them. I want a cigarette."

Ms Merrin said Hillier was disarmed after SERT officers, authorised to use non-lethal force, fired upon him.

She said at that moment Hillier jumped up with the gun and pointed it directly at an officer, who fired two rounds from a semi-automatic rifle.

Barrister Simon Hyland-Harris, for Hillier, said he sustained serious and "disabling" injuries to his left hand, wrist and shoulder.

"He had no intention of harming in any way the public or police, although I accept there was harm done in the fear they undoubtedly suffered," Mr Hyland-Harris said.

He said police gave witness statements supporting the fact Hillier begged to be shot.

The court was told Hillier had been living on the streets leading up to the siege.