Father pleads guilty to gunning down his daughter and her new husband in Melbourne

A father has admitted to gunning down his daughter and her husband, with the act suspected to have been committed in revenge.

Yarraville shooting victims Lindita and Veton Musai.

A father has admitted shooting dead his daughter and her husband on the doorstep of their Yarraville home in what is suspected to have been revenge against his ex-wife.

The Herald Sun can reveal Osman Shaptafaj, 56, has never told why he shot the newlyweds, Lindita and Veton Musai, on New Year’s Eve in 2019. He had been estranged from the family for about a decade.

But close family and friends have told police they believe he held a longstanding grudge against his former wife.

Appearing in the Supreme Court via videolink from Port Phillip Prison on Wednesday, Shaptafaj pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. “I plead guilty,” Shaptafaj said.

The three words were a significant turn in the case after he had initially pleaded not guilty by mental impairment in May last year.

Yarraville shooting victims Lindita and Veton Musai were gunned down outside their home.

Then on January 29, his lawyer told the court the case had resolved and Shaptafaj was listed for an arraignment to officially enter his guilty pleas on February 9. But on that day, the court heard he had sacked his lawyer on the eve of the hearing.

He had hired new legal representation but they were not instructed on how he wanted to proceed.

Ms Musai, 25, and Mr Musai, 29, were gunned down from behind as they entered their home after returning from a holiday to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. She was killed instantly, while her husband was rushed to hospital where he died the next day.

Mourners at the funeral for Yarraville shooting victim Veton Musai, 29 and his wife Lindita, 25 at the Albanian Australian Islamic Society in Carlton. Picture: Sarah Matray

Her father was soon after found a block away from the couple’s home with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Mr Musai’s brother Drilon Musai paid tribute to the “fairytale couple” after their deaths.

“People would take notice as soon as you entered a room because of the love you both had for another,” he wrote in an online tribute.

“You set the benchmark for what a fairytale couple is, and I don’t ever think that will be matched — perfect in every way.”

Couple Lindita and Veton Musai on their wedding day.

He urged people to remember the couple for “who they were, their love, their passion and their otherworldly presence”.

“Because to remember them for what happened is an injustice to love itself,” he said.

About 1000 mourners gathered for the couple’s funeral at the Albanian Australian Islamic Society mosque in Carlton.

Shaptafaj will return to court for a pre-sentencing hearing in May.

Originally published as Father pleads guilty to gunning down his daughter and her new husband in Melbourne