Mum’s plea to find killers of Scott Muston brutally shot in Geelong in 2019

The mother of a man repeatedly shot in the head after intervening in a dispute at a house in Geelong in 2019 says everyday life remains a struggle as she pleads for a breakthrough in the case.

The family of an innocent man who died after being repeatedly shot in the head has branded his killers as “animals” who have for years evaded justice over his unsolved death.

Three mystery assailants have been on the run since shooting 34-year-old Scott Muston on his friend’s Lara property where he was fixing a car.

While investigators questioned two women over the fatal 2019 shooting, no charges have been laid.

But five years on, detectives believe it could take just one tip-off to lead them to a major breakthrough in a case they say has organised crime links that has scared people into silence.

The family of Scott Muston, cousin Mick Kucek and mother and sister Bozica and Toni Muston, want answers over his death. Picture: Mark Stewart

Speaking publicly for the first time since Mr Muston’s death, his mother Bozica Muston told the Herald Sun she constantly feared unknowingly crossing paths with her son’s killers on the street.

“I don’t go out in public because the thought of standing next to one of these animals that took our brother, my son, really terrifies me,” she said.

“Just thinking that I could be at the register at the grocery store and saying ‘excuse me, I’m sorry’. It could be one of those people that are responsible for taking my son’s life.

“They’re still waking up every morning happy, breathing the oxygen that belonged to our son and my girls’ brother and they don’t feel guilty at all.”

Scott Muston, 34, died after he was shot at a Lara property in 2019. Picture: Supplied

The gunmen erratically drove up to the Bacchus Marsh Rd house and entered about 6pm on November 27 2019 before Mr Muston went inside to investigate and confronted them.

A fight broke out over a suspected debt owed by Mr Muston’s friend before one of the trio blasted him in the hallway.

Paramedics flew Mr Muston to The Alfred hospital where he died from his injuries the next day.

Through tears, Ms Muston said her family could not move on without holding her son’s killers to account.

“Life is a struggle everyday, everyday, you’re in disbelief that this has actually happened, you feel empty,” she said.

“It’s like having my whole right side amputated and I just can’t walk, I can’t balance, I can’t live a normal life.”

Toni Muston sits in her dead brother’s bedroom in Lara. Picture: Mark Stewart

Ms Muston said the devastation following Mr Muston’s death had rippled throughout her entire family.

“The first year we lost him, the kids were writing letters to Santa asking for him to bring Uncle Scott back and to put Uncle Scott under the Christmas tree”.

Mr Muston’s younger sister Toni Muston affectionately remembered her brother as a “sh**head” who loved to play practical jokes and looked out for everybody.

“He used to tease us, but most of all he used to love us and he used to just take care of us all the time. I felt safe with my brother,” she said.

Toni had strong words for her brother’s attackers, who she said continued to threaten the community’s safety until they were caught.

“I hope that it is the first thing on their mind when they wake up and I hope it’s the last thing on their mind when they go to sleep,” she said.

Mick Kucek, Mr Muston’s elder cousin and best friend, said he had remained convinced those responsible for the death of his “larrikin and quick-witted” friend would be caught.

“We will get answers — no one stays silent forever,” he said.

“There’s not a day that goes by where you don’t think about it.

“(Scott) brought life to every party. You’d actually be cautious in saying something in front of him because he’d have the quickest comeback.”

Flowers left at the Lara property where Scott Muston was shot dead. Picture: Alison Wynd

Detective Acting Sergeant from the Homicide Squad Greg Angus said he believed Mr Muston’s killers were not strangers to using violence.

He said a woman among the group of attackers who entered the property assaulted Mr Muston.

“The reason they attended the house that day, and this whole event unfolded, is most likely as a result of organised crime,” he said.

“It doesn’t surprise me that we’ve been encountered with silence from a number of people.

Sergeant Angus said he was confident that detectives would track down Mr Muston’s killers.

“We’re not talking about a cold case that’s 50 years old, it has only been five years, so there would be a lot of people around who have heard something, who know something who could help us,” he said.

As Crime Stoppers today pushes for fresh leads on its Unsolved Crime podcast, Ms Muston begged anyone with information to come forward.

“How can they live with themselves? There are people out there who do know who did this,” she said.

“Help us, or we will never move on.”

Time has stopped inside the Muston family home

On the outside, five years have passed since Scott Muston was brutally gunned down, but inside the family home he shared withhis parents, time has ground to a halt.

The property is filled with reminders of the former Serco worker, whose defining passions included his love for cars and spendingtime with his family.

Through the kitchen and past the living room, the 34-year-old’s bedroom sits untouched behind a closed door, his clean bluebed sheets and tidy gaming setup left untouched since the last night he spent there.

His scent, distinctly familiar to his mother, sister, his young nieces and nephews, is held within it, and is their remindernot to leave his door open for too long.

A Lara shooting victim has bene identified as 34-year-old Scott Muston. Picture: Supplied

Scott’s younger sister Toni takes a deep breath, wiping away a tear as she sits on his bed, cradling a framed photograph ofher protective and fun-loving brother.

His mother Bozica cannot bring herself to enter; she finds the thought of Scott never returning home too overwhelming.

But she says, in other ways, it is like her son never left.

“I still sit by the window thinking he’ll pull up any minute — I hear a car and I expect his blue car to pull up and it justnever does,” she says.

A small, wooden coffee table sits by the front door of the single storey brick home.

It is covered in framed pictures of the man known by loved ones as the “Pied Piper of kids”, which are surrounded by handmadetributes fashioned by his young nieces and nephews.

Opposite the homemade memorial sits a dining table circled by eight chairs.

Unable to face the empty seat that Scott once occupied, the family are yet to resume their traditional weekly dinners.

“We’re a really close family, we live close, we’d do everything together and you just don’t anymore,” Bozica says.

“That’s been taken awayfrom us.”

Their house sits on a sprawling block, watched over by placid horses and lined by a row of family cars parked in its graveldriveway, including Scott’s.

Its engine is only revved when it is used to escort the family to special occasions, such as weddings and milestone birthdays.

Mick takes it upon himself to make sure his best friend’s ride is always in working order.

He says it is his way of keeping his cousin and best friend alive.

Time has stopped inside the Muston family home, but their search for answers ticks on.