A man who shot a teenager during a robbery and then turned his gun on a resident who was checking if everything was OK has been sentenced to at least two decades behind bars.
Graeme Hunt was on the verge of retirement when he was made a paraplegic by Ali Chaouk, 25, who shot the Merrylands resident in the chest after he came out of his house after hearing arguing in March 2014.
Downing Centre District Court on Friday heard Chaouk had fired three bullets into 18-year-old Rhynal Nand shortly before coming across Mr Hunt, who asked him if everything was alright.
"What's it got to do with you, you f***ing dog," the court heard Chaouk asked Mr Hunt before raising his arm and shooting the man in the chest.
"Mr Hunt heard a loud bang," Judge Donna Woodburne said during sentencing.
"Mr Hunt wasn't to know it but that was to be the last time he would walk across his lawn."
The court heard Chaouk and two other men had conspired to rob Mr Nand and two other teenagers, who thought they were buying a mobile phone.
Chaouk got in the teens' car and held a gun to the heads of Mr Nand's teenage passengers before taking cash from one of them and asking another to get out of the car so they could withdraw money from an ATM, the court heard.
Judge Woodburne said Chaouk then punched Mr Nand, said "F... you" and then fired three bullets into the driver.
The court heard Chaouk had an addiction to ice and had reported not sleeping much in the week before the shootings.
The judge said Chaouk claimed to have a very limited memory of the incidents, which an expert had suggested could be caused by the combination of ice and drugs he took to help him sleep.
Mr Hunt, who was 62 at the time of the incident, told sentence proceedings he's "grateful to be alive" and still has a bullet in his spine.
The court heard his daily life is "tough and a constant struggle".
"It is a testament to his character he is not bitter," Judge Woodburne said.
Chaouk was sentenced to a maximum of 27 years and will be eligible for parole in 2034.
A 27-year-old man who had a limited role in the robbery, and who Judge Woodburne found did not know Chaouk had brought the gun along, was sentenced to a maximum of six years in jail.
Mr Nand has ongoing problems moving his arm after the shooting.
