Four men have been found guilty of the bashing murder of an Albanian refugee during the robbery of a cannabis crop.
The men had faced a retrial after the High Court overturned their convictions in the death of Urim Gjabri at his suburban rental property in Adelaide in 2018.
In the South Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Julie McIntyre found Benjamin John Mitchell, Alfred Claude Rigney, Matt Bernard Tenhoopen and Aaron Donald Carver guilty of murder.
Mr Gjabri was discovered by a friend at his Para Vista home in a pool of dried blood.
The 46-year-old had been hit over the head at least once and possibly twice, and according to forensic evidence initially survived the attack.
Evidence suggested he had lived for at least another 35 minutes and possibly up to 24 hours.
On the crown case, each of the accused were party to a plan to commit a home invasion or robbery because they went to Mr Gjabri's home and emerged with his cannabis crop.
The court was told that police found the DNA of two of the accused inside the dead man's house.
They also found the DNA of a third defendant on the steering wheel of Mr Gjabri's car.
However, the prosecution could not say who actually killed the victim or how many blows he suffered.
The men were previously found guilty in 2020 and were each sentenced to at least 20 years' jail.
At the first trial, it was argued that as part of an extended joint criminal enterprise, each of the accused had foreseen that one of them might have perpetrated an intentional act of violence.
In such circumstances, the trial judge directed the jury that the prosecution could establish a pathway to murder.
However, the High Court quashed their convictions in 2023 after finding that such provisions could not be relied on and therefore the jury had not been properly instructed.
Justice McIntyre remanded the men in custody and ordered pre-sentencing reports.
They will return to court in August to start the sentencing process.
