Man charged with killing teenager Brayden Dillon pleads guilty
The gunman who shot dead 15-year-old Brayden Dillon as he slept at his family’s Glenfield home — as part of gangland revenge hit — has pleaded guilty. The man, who cannot be legally named, entered his plea after three years before the court system.
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A hired gunman has pleaded guilty to murdering 15-year-old Brayden Dillon in a western Sydney gangland revenge hit.
In a shocking crime, Brayden was shot dead as he slept at his mother’s Glenfield home on Good Friday in 2017.
The killer stormed into the home and forced his way past Brayden’s mother before he opened fire on the teen.
The shooter, who legally can’t be identified, had spent almost three years weighing up whether to contest a murder charge at trial in the NSW Supreme Court next month.
However, when the matter appeared for a short arraignment hearing in the court on Tuesday, his lawyers Omar Juweinat and Paul Johnson told Justice Ian Harrison that he would be entering a guilty plea to the charge.
His trial would have run for at least six to eight weeks but it all evaporated in a 10-minute court hearing.
The court was not told the reason for the man’s decision to plead guilty.
It was the latest in a long line of surprise developments in the murder inquiry that began with a fatal brawl on the front lawn of a western Sydney home in July 2016.
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On that day, a man, who cannot legally be named, was fatally stabbed by another man during the brawl on a suburban street in Panania.
On April 14, 2017, Brayden was murdered by the gunman and the police investigation focused on the theory that the teen was murdered as a revenge hit following the stabbing.
In court on Tuesday, Justice Harrison vacated the hearing dates, which were set down from June 11, following the gunman’s guilty plea.
His matter will now progress straight to sentencing, with the hearings set to begin on July 17.