By Cam Lucadou-Wells
In a near-fatal case of mistaken identity, a drug trafficker has been jailed for shooting another man through a car window in Narre Warren South.
Phillip Constantinou, 34, was found guilty by a Victorian Supreme Court jury of attempted murder of the 25-year-old victim, who was shot in the head on 7 March 2020.
He was also charged with being a prohibited person with a firearm, driving disqualified and trafficking methamphetamine in a commercial quantity on the same day.
On 12 September, sentencing judge Lex Lasry stated a “highly agitated” Constantinou approached his girlfriend and the victim Kevin Passanise sitting in the victim’s white Audi in Shrives Road late at night.
For some time, Constantinou had expressed hatred for another man, ‘Ricky’, who he suspected his girlfriend was seeing.
The woman told Constantinou that Mr Passanise was not “Ricky” but “my mate from New South Wales” as Constantinou demanded they “turn the light on”.
“It’s not him,” the girlfriend said.
“F*** him,” Constantinou said. He then fired a .22 calibre gun through the car window.
The bullet hit the middle of the 25-year-old victim’s brow line and lodged in the back of his head.
The woman and Constantinou fled the scene without assisting the victim.
Later, Constantinou told her to call triple-0.
A critically-injured Mr Passanise underwent surgery and was in a coma for several weeks, then onto rehab for physical and psychological treatment.
“The injuries that he has suffered as a result of your actions have imposed a terrible price on his life,” Justice Lasry said.
The victim required family assistance and treatment for a very long time, he said.
Constantinou pleaded guilty to a suite of driving, drug and weapon charges but not guilty to attempted murder.
The jury rejected Constantinou’s claim that the gun fired accidentally when tapped on the window, Justice Lasry noted.
“I regard this as a moment of gratuitous violence on your part which showed indifference to what you were being told by (the girlfriend), although of course, even if it had have been (‘Ricky’) in the car there would be no justification of any kind for your actions.
“This a man you did not know but you simply cursed him and then fired.
“You were ready to kill him.”
Twelve days later, Constantinou was arrested in a stolen Audi, with bags of meth and drug-dealing paraphernalia as well as ammunition, an anabolic steroid and more than $2900 cash.
On the night of the shooting, he’d left a commercial quantity of ‘ice’ at his girlfriend’s home, the court heard.
A month earlier, police spotted him driving a car with stolen number plates. Police later found two loaded guns, ammunition, an anabolic steroid, Viagra and growth hormone in the car, the court heard.
The “thread of high level drug trafficking and firearms” was serious, Justice Lasry noted.
From the age of 21, Constantinou had spent seven years in custody. His previous convictions include drug trafficking, firearm and intentionally causing serious injury.
He’d used meth and ecstasy for a long time, as well as occasionally GHB and buprenorphine.
He’d been “apparently” diagnosed with PTSD as a response to being shot in 2013 and stabbed in 2014, the court heard. His symptoms were amplified by his drug problem.
“That in turn is why you say you carried firearms and used illicit substances.
“Your prospects of rehabilitation may be reasonable but will require you to avoid drugs altogether.”
Constantinou was jailed for up to 18 years, with a 15-year non-parole period. His term includes 907 days of pre-sentence detention.
