Dean John Bell: Melbourne man to be jailed over role in Griffin Harris’ shooting death
Fleeing her home after being confronted by a masked intruder, the last thing a young woman heard was her boyfriend calling out “help”.
The family of a young man killed over a $250 drug debt have described his death as a “senseless tragedy” as a court was told no one would be held responsible for shooting him.
Griffin Harris, 22, was asleep in bed with his new girlfriend, Alison Sleddon, when four men attacked their Kalkallo home in Melbourne’s north in the early morning of September 21, 2022.
One of the men, Dean John Bell, 33, returned before the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday for a presentence hearing after pleading guilty to homicide by firearm.
Prosecutor Jenaya Ellis told the court that Ms Sleddon woke as Peter Batsanes, 21, and Troy Allen Smith, 26, began banging and kicking the front door at 4.10am.
She tried to rouse Mr Harris, who remained in a confused state, before leaving the bedroom hoping to lock the home’s side laundry door.
But in the hallway of the home a masked man aimed a rifle at her head and she fled through the front door “terrified”.
“As she ran away she heard ‘get the f--k down’ and the deceased saying ‘Ally help’,” Ms Ellis said.
Mr Harris was found in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to his chest and declared dead shortly after police and paramedics arrived about 5.30am.
The court was told Bell had been captured on CCTV with another man, Lachlan Belmore, 25, climbing over the back fence of the property shortly before the shooting.
Both were initially charged with murder; however, these charges were dropped earlier this year.
Belmore pleaded guilty to manslaughter by unlawful and dangerous act after prosecutors accepted they could not prove he had entered the home or shot Mr Harris.
He was jailed for nine years in May, with Justice Rita Incerti noting he was “central” to the plot to confront and threaten Mr Harris.
But on Wednesday, Ms Ellis said the prosecution accepted Bell did not enter the home after jumping the back fence.
Instead, she said, he would be sentenced “on the basis he was party to an agreement, arrangement or understanding the deceased would be confronted by a loaded firearm”.
Crown prosecutor Jane Warren said Bell had described Mr Harris as a friend but fled the scene knowing that he’d been shot – showing a “complete disregard for welfare”.
The court was told Belmore had recruited the three other men and sourced the gun to confront Mr Harris after the pair had a falling out over a $250 drug debt.
Days before the shooting, Mr Harris had driven past Belmore’s home and thrown a brick at his car after a series of angry messages.
Bell’s barrister Glenn Casement called for his client to receive a “significantly” lower sentence than Belmore, who he said was the “principal offender”.
He said Bell had suffered a deprived and traumatic childhood, was remorseful for his role in the death and had committed himself to reform while in custody.
“I didn’t expect for him to get killed. I hate myself for being involved … I feel deeply sorry,” the court was told Bell had said.
Members of Mr Harris’ family told the court their lives had been devastated by the “senseless tragedy” of his death.
Mum Lorraine Harris shed tears as she said her heart had been broken by her son’s death.
“I mourn for everything Griffin will no longer be able to do … the list is endless,” she said.
“I have so many unanswered questions I know will go unanswered.”
Dad Kevin Harris told the court that he no longer experienced enjoyment in life and visited his son’s gravesite multiple times a week.
“Our lives have changed dramatically without our choice,” he said.
Bell will be the first person sentenced on the charge of homicide by firearm, which was introduced in 2020, when he returns before Justice Incerti at a later date.
Batsanes and Smith both pleaded guilty to home invasion in September last year.
In December the same year, Batsanes was jailed for three years and six months, while Smith received a four years and six month sentence of imprisonment.