The man accused of murdering four people during a rampage through Darwin allegedly used a shotgun to blow the door off a woman’s unit door before apologising.

September 27, 2021

Catherine Milera thought she heard a car backfiring, but seconds later a shotgun blast blew the locks off the front door to her Darwin apartment and she thought she was about to die.

“As soon as that door burst in my worst fears were confirmed,” she told the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Monday.

“I sank to the ground in the corner. I couldn’t get my mobile to do anything, my hands were shaking,” Ms Milera said as she recounted the events of June 4, 2019.

That’s the day Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann, 47, is accused of murdering four people with a shotgun during a drug-fuelled afternoon rampage across the city.

One of his alleged victims is Nigel Hellings, who lived next door to Ms Milera.

Prosecutor Lloyd Babb SC says Hoffmann shot Mr Hellings while he searched for a man named Alex Deligiannis.

“He walked in. He appeared to be on a mission. He knew what he was looking for,” Ms Milera said fighting back tears.

“He looked like a tradie … but with a shotgun.

“I was lying on the ground thinking I was going to die.”

Ms Milera kept her head down and tried to avoid making eye contact with Hoffmann as he allegedly walked past her with a shotgun asking where a man named Alex was.

“I realised I needed to stop looking at him as possibly my only way of surviving was to not be a witness,” she said in a police interview recording played for the jury.

“I was shaking. I said something like ‘I don’t know who Alex is, my name is Catherine, there is no Alex here’.”

Ms Milera said a nearby apartment had previously been rented to people who she believed had been dealing drugs and the shooting incident could be linked to those people.

Hoffman allegedly checked all the rooms in her apartment before saying sorry and walking out.

The Crown says he then drove to the Buff Club, about 650 metres away, where he is accused of murdering Michael Sisois.

A CCTV video played for the jury of the incident shows a man in a hi-vis shirt punch Mr Sisois to the ground in the car park.

He then returns to his ute and retrieves a shotgun before shooting Mr Sisois in the head.

Mr Babb says the 57-year-old died instantly.

Seconds before that, Sharon Ninham can be seen pulling up behind the ute in her white hatchback.

She told the court she watched on as Hoffmann put a 30cm long knife to Mr Sisois’s neck and said: “I told you not to f*** with me c***”.

“He wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t screaming, it was like he was in control of the situation. He just said those words and looked straight at me,” she said as tears streamed down her face in the witness box.

“I then put my car into reverse and reversed out of the driveaway as fast as I could.”

Ms Ninham said she heard a gunshot as she fled from the scene.

Senior Constable Merwan Kazem was with the first NT police officers to arrive at the Buff Club after Hoffmann left.

“We decided to go in with guns drawn and walk through,” he said.

“As we got closer (to the shooting location) I noticed it looked like coloured blankets all bunched up but as we got closer I noticed the deceased was there.”

As he has done on previous days, Hoffmannkept his head down and did not watch the video as it was played to the jury.

Hassan Baydoun, 33, and Rob Courtney, 52, were the other men who died.

Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and 10 other serious charges, including threatening to kill and recklessly endangering life.

The trial continues.