Liam King sentenced for rage attacks at Maccas, shooting uncle in chest

A roof plumber smashed a Berwick Maccas drive-thru window because they couldn’t fulfil his order and later mistakenly shot his uncle in the chest, a court has heard.

An “unhinged” man who smashed a Maccas drive thru window with a baseball bat when staff couldn’t fulfil his order and later mistakenly shot his uncle in the chest, thinking he was an enemy, will spend further time behind bars.

Liam King, 33, on Thursday fronted the Melbourne County Court via video link from prison for sentencing for a string of “outrageous” offending in 2019.

The court heard King and an unknown male went to a Berwick McDonalds just after 4am on March 2 but found the front door to be locked.

Angry that he “couldn’t get in”, he began kicking the door before turning his attention to a parked Volkswagen hatchback – kicking it numerous times, causing more than $4000 in damage.

The pair then drove to another McDonalds, also in Berwick, and placed their orders in the drive thru.

King became enraged when he was told an item in his order was not available – he emerged from his car with a baseball bat and twice struck the drive thru window, causing it to shatter, as the shocked employee watched on.

Five months later, on the afternoon of August 12, King and his then partner were socialising at the house of a man he regarded as an uncle.

The court heard the couple were arguing and a man had asked them to stop.

King later swung a baseball bat towards the man’s head, who raised his arm to protect himself, though it took the force of the blow.

Brandishing the bat, King chased the man – who later required surgery on his broken forearm – and another from the property.

Later that night, after returning to the Koo Wee Rup farm where he was living, King heard somebody walking up his driveway.

He armed himself with a long-armed firearm and shot at the figure, which then crumpled to the ground.

King quickly realised he had shot his uncle, who had wanted to discuss the earlier incident, in the chest.

But rather than calling an ambulance, he loaded him into his car and dropped him home.

The court heard the man’s friends tried to treat him after Googling “how to treat a gunshot wound” before taking him to hospital an hour later.

The man, whose liver had been lacerated and was suffering significant internal bleeding, was immediately taken into emergency and transferred to The Alfred, where he spent three days in intensive care followed by almost three weeks in hospital.

In a statement tendered to the court the man detailed his shock at learning King had shot him when he woke from his coma.

He said the shooting had “drastically” changed his life – he was “no longer the healthy and outgoing person” he was and continued to suffer both mentally and physically.

The court heard King, a qualified roof plumber, had later stated he had fired the gun “thinking it was an enemy coming up the driveway”.

Judge Cannon briefly described some of King’s “extensive” criminal history, including gathering a group to attack a man who had kissed his girlfriend at a party and making a pipe bomb and placing it under a person’s car who owed him money.

Conceding King had experienced a challenging life, Judge Cannon said the most recent offending was an escalation.

“On each occasion you have behaved in an outrageous and unhinged manner, subjecting people to frightening behaviour,” she said.

While he had a strong work history and had tried to treat his mental illnesses, she said he returned to offending after relapsing into drug use. She said continuing treatment and resisting drug use was his challenge.

King was convicted on all charges and sentenced to four years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of three years.

His 922 days in pre-sentence detention were reckoned as time served and he was also fined $600.