Wyong gunman Bradley Jason Mark White has been jailed for a maximum of 42 years for a shooting rampage that killed Byron Tonks and wounded two others on the Central Coast in 2020.
White fired two rifles at terrified neighbours and emptied more than 220 rounds into houses and cars during an hour-long rampage in Cutler Drive, Wyong on March 17, 2020.
He may have been suffering a mental health or cognitive impairment, but White knew what he was doing was wrong, a jury determined in October, finding White guilty of murder and six other serious shooting charges.
White was angry over a long-running and "ridiculous" grievance he had with a young neighbour over the road in Cutler Drive when he twice set fire to a car and then began firing two rifles from his verandah and inside his house.
He shot at people in the street, striking one man in the shoulder and a woman in the back, fired upon responding police and pumped bullets into eight cars and a number of houses across the road, next door and behind his property.
At one point during the relentless barrage of bullets, Byron Tonks, who had driven to a house in Cutler Drive to help, screamed out from the front room: "I've been hit".
Ultimately, as White continued shooting into the house, police had to remove the three injured people through the backyard.
Mr Tonks was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Byron Tonks's parents, Cindy and Albert Tonks, read emotional victim impact statements during a sentence hearing in December, speaking of a young man who was eccentric and who loved animals and a beer.
Mrs Tonks broke down as she spoke about watching her son's life slip away.
"He said, 'Mum, this is it'," Mrs Tonks said through tears. "The last words my beautiful son ever spoke to me were, 'I love you Mum'. "I will never forget the look on his face as he left this life. That look is forever etched in my memory."
White did not deny firing the rifles into the homes and shooting the three people, including Mr Tonks, but pleaded not guilty to murder and six other charges and raised a defence of mental health impairment or cognitive impairment, which he said impacted his ability to know what he was doing was wrong.
But after listening to expert evidence, police interviews with White, submissions from the prosecution and defence and deliberating for less than a day, the jury returned and found White guilty of all charges.
Justice Mark Ierace, SC, said on Friday that White's intention was to inflict "sustained terror" on his neighbours and that was evident when he switched to a more powerful and accurate rifle during the shooting.
He said the terror felt by those taking cover inside the house would have been "extreme" and video of the shooting conveyed something of the horror they must have felt as rounds smashed windows and struck walls inside the house.
Justice Ierace said White still had not accepted responsibility for the shooting and had little insight into its effects and on Friday jailed White for a maximum of 42 years, with a non-parole period of 30 years, making him eligible for parole in 2050.
