A man has been jailed for at least two decades for the execution-style murder of his close friend who was gunned down on a dark Sydney suburban street on his 45th birthday.
Bill Panagakos was approached by two men at a Petersham intersection late on March 4 in 2014 before he was shot five times, including three times in the head.
In jailing Gazi Safarjalani for at least 20 years on Friday, Justice Michael Walton found he was part of a joint criminal enterprise to kill his friend but an unknown man pulled the trigger.
Authorities have not discovered the second man's identity.
Safarjalani, who contended he saw his friend being shot and deliberately chose not to tell police he was present, was found guilty of murder by a NSW Supreme Court jury in October.
After his arrest, in February 2017, Safajalani was secretly recorded saying: "It's not a pretty sight seeing something like that" and "that's why I went crazy".
The 38-year-old, who once ran a coffee shop with Mr Panagakos, is awaiting sentence on a charge of aiding and abetting the importation of methamphetamine, which took place months after the murder.
Mr Panagakos had celebrated his 45th birthday with his wife before receiving a phone call.
He told her he was going to see some friends for his birthday and would be away for a few hours.
While the prosecutor submitted that a likely reason for the motive related to a dispute involving prohibited drugs, Justice Walton said the motive remained unclear.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Panagakos' sister Anna and mother Chrissa told of their grief.
The mother said the birth of her first child was the happiest day of her life but the date now brings only pain after he was slain on his birthday.
"The fourth of March has now become the day we mourn my brother Bill and remember the brutal way he was murdered," the statement said.
The daughter said her mother would wear black for the rest of her life as a symbol of her pain and to mourn her son.
"But it's more than that - she feels black inside because of the loss of her son."
Justice Walton jailed Safarjalani for 26 years and eight months, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Australian Associated Press
