A family man who vanished after visiting a friend’s home was shot in the back accidentally and then burned amid an argument about speeding fines.
Adrian Romeo, 42, disappeared in Melbourne’s north in February 2024 before police located his burnt remains on a farming property in Wildwood about 10 months later.
His killer, Robert Mantini, 61, was jailed for 13 years and six months in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday morning after pleading guilty to a charge of homicide by firearm.
Handing down the sentence, Justice Kerri Judd said Mr Romeo and Mantini had been friends until a falling out over two speeding fines totalling just more than $534.
Mr Romeo had rented a vehicle for Mantini to use in October 2023, but his friend had resisted paying for the fines incurred while driving.
In the afternoon of February 10, 2024, Mr Romeo drove to Mantini’s home in Greenvale carrying paperwork relating to the infringements before Mantini pulled out a shotgun and told him to “get the f--k out”.
Mantini struck Mr Romeo with the gun and the firearm discharged into his back as Mr Romeo was walking towards the door.
Another man in the house at the time became distressed and began to cry before Mantini threatened his family and said “I should kill you for seeing this”.
Mantini and his son Luca Mantini, who is not charged with any wrongdoing, then carried Mr Romeo’s body to the boot of his gold Toyota Camry.
Justice Judd said Mantini was to be sentenced on the basis he “unintentionally discharged” the shotgun into Mr Romeo’s back, and he ought to have known it contained ammunition after shooting the gun just half an hour earlier.
Mantini then enlisted Shane Dalton, 66, a friend of three decades, to attempt to cover up Mr Romeo’s death.
Dalton was also sentenced to a 10-month term of imprisonment on Thursday to be followed by a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to a charge of assisting an offender.
In the months after Mr Romeo’s death, Justice Judd said Dalton provided “multifaceted” and “material” help to Mantini, including assisting in the moving of the body, lying to police, arranging a new vehicle and clothing and providing a demolition saw.
The court was told Mantini used the demolition saw and fire to “dispose” of Mr Romeo’s body and the car, but Dalton “did not participate in the physical destruction”.
In August, prosecutors revealed only 0.47 per cent of Mr Romeo had been recovered and provided to his family, and Mantini had sold the “burnt remnants” of the car as scrap.
“You took extreme steps to conceal and dispose of the body with complete disregard for the distress of his family,” Justice Judd said to Mantini.
“There is little evidence of remorse, particularly when regard is had to the treatment of Mr Romeo’s body and the impact on his family.”
The court was told Mr Romeo was the “cornerstone of his family” and was devoted to the care of his elderly parents prior to his death.