Tragic end to ‘Surfers sniper’ saga

HYLTON Miller moved from South Africa to the Gold Coast to be safe. But his new life unravelled when he was hit by a freak stray bullet.

Surfers Paradise Shooting Victim Mr Hylton Miller pictured at his Wongawallen home ,angry at Cr Douglas for calling him a Vigilante for wanting to set up a private security force on the Gold Coast. showing the damage done from his shooting .

THE bullet that destroyed Hylton Miller’s life came out of nowhere.

Walking through the Gold Coast’s busy Surfers Paradise Esplanade, the journey the father-of-three made with his young family on December 4, 2010, was one travelled safely by millions of families and holiday-makers each year.

But on their stroll home from a family 10-pin bowling night, Miller was shot in the stomach by a single bullet that came out of the blue.

A complicated investigation would trace the source of the bullet back to a high-rise balcony, where a drunken dinner party had taken a deadly turn.

The stray shot didn’t kill Mr Miles that day, but it would eventually lead to his death five years later.

After the miserable five-year ordeal that followed that single bullet being fired into Miller’s abdomen, the 47-year-old took his life this week.

Hylton Miller with family and wife Juanita pictured moments before the shooting.

The random attack would have been tragic had it happened to anyone, but the fact that it reached this particular target seems especially cruel.

Mr Miller had moved his young family to sunny Queensland to escape the violence and uncertainty he faced growing up in South Africa.

In the midst of the nation’s crime endemic, the family had been held captive in their own home during a home invasion.

He had been shot before and wanted his children, 13, 15, and 21, to be free of the fear they had become used to by moving to a far safer place.

Eight years into his new life in Australia, Miller met a bullet he couldn’t dodge and everything unravelled from there.

Miller was had emergency surgery and was left in a coma.

The shooting sparked years of physical and emotional pain for Mr Miller.

He survived emergency surgery, spent four months in a coma, only to contract a severe infection that required more than 30 operations at a cost of more than $120,000.

As well as his ongoing health problems, he was faced with an arduous legal battle that he endured in his still unsuccessful quest for justice.

The stress was too much for his family and saw his marriage end.

The main complication in the battle to bring Mr Miller’s shooter to justice is that no one has admitted the crime.

Rick El Masri, a former bouncer at Gold Coast strip club Hollywood Showgirls, was charged with grievous bodily harm in relation to the shooting, with police alleging he fired two shots from a nearby high-rise, one of which hit Mr Miller.

Mr El Masri was being entertained by his friend Hakan “Harry” Altinoglu at a boozy dinner party in his Surfers Paradise apartment.

During the 2014 trial over the shooting, Altinoglu told the court the pair were standing on his balcony looking out over the Gold Coast nightclub strip, when he pointed out the strip club where Mr El Masri had recently been sacked from, the Courier-Mail reported.

He alleged his guest patted his hip and asked, “Should I shoot?”

Altinoglu said after he told his friend not to be “stupid”, El Masri held a handgun sideways over the balcony “like in a gangster-style” and fired two shots into the distance, missing his target but continuing to travel a full kilometre before one hit Mr Miller.

Mr El Masri denied the shooting and the case was complicated when the accused claimed it was actually his host who had fired the shots.

Mr El Masri was acquitted following the two-week trial in the Southport District Court and the shooter was never brought to justice.

Rick El Masri was acquitted of the charges.

After the trial, Mr Miller expressed his anger and frustration in an interview with the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“Someone has to be accountable,” he said.

Have a retrial or something. You can’t do nothing. Who shot me … a ghost?”

His ex-wife said the case had taken a toll on the entire family, and his daughter Jamie Miller said the family felt “very let down” by the system, and that the court results was “heartbreaking”.

“My dad has to live with this scar for the rest of his life,” Jamie said.

Mr Miller’s problems went beyond his family and health issues.

Earlier this year he found himself in court again, though this time as the accused.

The former soldier pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and one count of secure storage of weapons.

Police had found a stash of weapons including a Glock pistol, tasers, a baton and knuckledusters at his Worongary home.

Solicitor Michael Gatenby told the court how Mr Miller was a “shell of the man he used to be” after the random shooting in Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

“When you hear a person say they keep weapons at home for self defence, it often seems fanciful, but perhaps for my client it’s not,” he said.

He was fined $1300 for the offences and ordered to forfeit the weapons seized.

Mr Miller’s lawyer also said he struggled to work as a result of his injuries.

More than 30 surgeries followed the shooting, which left the airconditioning installer without parts of his stomach, spleen and lungs.

The shooting tore apart Miller’s once happy family.

Earlier this week, just days after the fifth anniversary of the shooting, Mr Miller ended his pain, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported today.

Mr Gatenby, who appeared for Mr Miller in court less than a fortnight ago, told the paper the shooting had taken an enormous toll.

“He lost everything — he lost his business and he lost his relationships,” he said.

“He was just a shadow of the man he was.”

Mr Gatenby said Mr Miller had planned to move to Sydney for yet another fresh start, and had plans for rehabilitation and counselling.

Mr Miller’s family is yet to comment publicly on their tragic loss.

If you or someone you know needs help, phone Lifeline on 131 114.