The first man killed when a lovesick gunman rampaged across Darwin tried to defend himself with a frypan, a forensic expert has told a court.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann, 47, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder at four locations in the afternoon on June 4, 2019.
The first man killed during the hour-long shooting spree, Hassan Baydoun, was shot at the Palms Motel at 5.38pm.
Forensic pathologist Marianne Tiemensma said the 33-year-old's body had four gunshot wounds.
The first two shots hit Mr Baydoun in the right arm and the third in his chest.
The final shot hit Mr Baydoun in his head from close range while he was seated in his shower.
Investigators found Mr Baydoun's dead body slumped on the floor in his shower cubicle with a frypan in his lap.
"I got the impression he was most likely trying to defend himself with the frying pan," Dr Tiemensma said of her observations at the crime scene shortly after Mr Baydoun was killed.
The Crown says that after Hoffmann murdered Mr Baydoun, he drove to a nearby apartment block, where he shot and killed Nigel Hellings, 75.
Michael Sisois, 57, was killed from a gunshot wound to his head in a car park at a nearby bar and restaurant.
The final man to die, Rob Courtney, 52, was fatally stabbed and shot at an industrial yard at Darwin Recycling.
Dr Tiemensma said Mr Courtney sustained at least 69 injuries, including 36 stabbing and slicing wounds, multiple blunt force injuries and a gunshot wound.
Prosecutor Lloyd Babb SC has said Hoffmann was searching for his ex-girlfriend, Kelly Collins, and the man she had said she loved, Alex Deligiannis, when the killings happened.
The trial continues on Monday.
Australian Associated Press
