Teen shooter in fatal home invasion attempt says 'I love crime ... I felt this power'

"I didn't like it at first but after a while I felt this power and now I love it," he said.

Glenn Walewicz, 48, was shot and killed in the front doorway of his Phillip unit in a case of mistaken identity in June 2021.

The shooter, who was 17 at the time and cannot be named due to his age, faced the start of sentencing on the ACT Supreme Court on Friday.

He previously pleaded guilty to murder.

The shooter was one of three assailants, including two children, who were recruited for what would turn out to be a botched home invasion attempt.

The assailants went to the wrong address, when the 17-year-old fatally shot Mr Walewicz in the neck with a .22 pump-action rifle upon him opening the front door.

In a victim impact statement read to court on Friday, Eileen Walewicz described herself as "Glenn's widow".

She said that at the time of his death, they were separated but had "reconnected and even discussed plans to reconcile".

Ms Walewicz told the court she received a call from her mother-in-law while in a hospital bed following major surgery.

"I was alone and all I could do was cry in silence," she said.

"[My] facade would have you believe that I am OK, but that is far from the truth.

"I have a rage inside of me that comes and goes because I am always thinking of the 'whys' and 'what ifs'.

"Most of all I think of Glenn every day and feel an overwhelming sadness for the loss of someone I truly love, and I do not know how to deal with that."

A pre-sentence report states the shooter, now 20, told a youth justice worker in Bimberi youth detention centre that he could not imagine his life free of crime, which "makes you feel high of [sic] life".

"I love doing crime, being in the room telling them to give me the money," he said.

On Friday, defence barrister Keegan Lee argued his client had "panicked" and fired the gun.

Mr Lee said the 20-year-old had multiple mental health diagnoses including borderline and social personality disorder.

The barrister urged the court to consider a suspended prison sentence, allowing supervision in the community away from anti-social influences in jail.

Prosecutor Trent Hickey said the idea that the shooter panicked was "nonsense".

"The firearm was tested by a forensic firearms officer and was found to not have a light trigger," Mr Hickey told the court.

"It is an offensive submission, honestly, that he panicked."

The prosecutor described the crime as "reckless indifference to human life its worst" and said "there's such a callousness about it".

"Jail may not be perfect but it's what we have," Mr Hickey said.

In 2021, the mastermind behind the botched robbery, Nicole Williams, recruited two children and Gary Taylor to carry out a home invasion.

Her son, Jayden Douglas Williams, was jailed for his involvement in aiding and abetting the attempted aggravated burglary.

The intended targets of the home invasion were two known drug-dealers, who owed Nicole Williams money.

Nicole Williams gave the then 17-year-old boy a .22 pump-action rifle, which he would ultimately use to shoot Mr Walewicz.

She then placed a "crack pipe" in the mouth of a 12-year-old boy, telling him "don't worry" and to inhale, before sending him out with Taylor and the other juvenile.

Getaway driver Reatile Ncube, then aged 18, drove the trio of would-be home invaders to Phillip, where a 17-year-old would ultimately kill Mr Walewicz with a single shot to the neck.

After a year of painstaking investigations, Nicole Williams was arrested at Canberra's train station with a one-way ticket to travel interstate.

Detectives arrested all of the offenders in June 2022.

Taylor was jailed for more than 10 years for his involvement, while Ncube received a suspended prison sentence for accessory to murder.

Nicole Williams is set to be sentenced in September.

Justice David Mossop is set to hand down the shooter's sentence later this month.

Charges against the 12-year-old boy were discontinued.