The ex-girlfriend of a man on trial for murdering four people during a shooting spree across Darwin says the pair smoked dodgy drugs before the killings.

October 5, 2021

A man accused of murdering four people during an armed rampage across Darwin smoked dodgy drugs before the killings, a court has been told.

Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder in less than an hour at four locations on the afternoon of June 4, 2019.

The night before the shooting spree, Kelly Collins, a woman the 47-year-old met in drug rehab and later fell in love with, says the pair smoked crystal methamphetamine together.

“It didn’t taste right. It didn’t taste nice,” she told the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

‘It was just off, maybe burnt, I’m not sure.”

Ms Collins said Hoffman smoked “quite a bit, as in three pipes” in about an hour then left before returning later in the evening with another person.

“He tried to coerce me to go with him,” she said.

“I ran to (my neighbour). I said ‘We have to ring the police’.”

By 1am, Hoffmann had gone to the emergency department at the Royal Darwin Hospital, where he told nurse Stephanie Grainger he’d been poisoned.

“He wasn’t engaging that well. He didn’t have good eye contact. He just seemed distracted,” she said.

“He was paranoid”.

Hoffmann left the hospital before returning about 4.30am. He was later discharged when test results showed nothing concerning.

The Crown says Hoffmann used a shotgun to murder four men in less than an hour as he searched for Ms Collins and a man named Alex Deligiannis less than 24 hours later.

Hassan Baydoun, 33, died at the Palms Motel and Nigel Hellings, 75, was fatally shot at an apartment complex.

Michael Sisois, 57, died from a gunshot to the head in the car park at The Buff Club and Rob Courtney, 52, was stabbed more than 30 times and shot dead at Darwin Recycling.

Hoffmann told police after he was arrested that he believed he’d been poisoned the night before the killings.

He said it caused him to be “out of his mind” and temporarily insane on June 4.

In the months before the shootings, Hoffmann and Ms Collins enjoyed spending time together at rehab and after they’d both left the program.

The couple was planning to move in together, selecting furniture and planning for the future.

But two weeks before the shootings, Ms Collins texted Hoffmann a message that read: “Hoffy, I love Alex”.

Hoffmann initially responded with a series of humorous texts to Ms Collins’ news.

But in the days after, his demeanour changed and he repeatedly told workmates he was going to “blow (Alex’s) head off” and that he had a gun.

The trial continues on Tuesday.