Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Darwin shooting murder trial underway
A jury is being empanelled in the Northern Territory Supreme Court for the trial of a man accused of the shooting murders of four people in Darwin in 2019.
September 21, 2021
Long-awaited trial proceedings for a man accused of killing four people in Darwin are underway with the selection of a jury.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann, 47, is charged with four counts of murder and several other serious offences following a series of shootings on June 4, 2019.
His jury trial before Justice John Burns in the Northern Territory Supreme Court is scheduled for nine weeks but could run for three months.
It’s expected to hear from about 150 witnesses with a jury empanelment on Tuesday likely to take the full day.
That’s due to the close links between Darwin’s small population and the need for the jury of 15 people to be independent from the community and willing to decide the case based only on the evidence.
Media have been barred from the courtroom to make space for the jury pool of about 200 people.
Hassan Baydoun, 33, Nigel Hellings, 75, Michael Sisois, 57, and Rob Courtney, 52, were killed in the shootings in the city’s inner suburbs. A woman was also shot and injured.
The trial was delayed in March when Hoffmann’s lawyer, Jon Tippett QC, applied to the court for a three-month adjournment.