Crime: Murder x 2
Occurred: Friday, 13 August 2010
Where: 192 Lygon Street, Carlton
Sentenced: 14 September 2012
Convicted: Adam Kosian
Victims: Boris
Kostov and Goran Vasic
What happened?
Early Friday afternoon, Adam rang his mother and sister and
told them he would be out of contact for about six weeks. He lit candles on his coffee table, made the
sign of the cross several times and kissed his dog before leaving. Armed with .32 Browning and a spare magazine,
Adam caught a taxi to his regular hangout, a pokies venue named Players on
Lygon.
Some time after arriving, Adam walked up to his friend Boris
Kostov, who was seated in the outdoor area, and shot him once. Boris fled inside and Adam's gun jammed. After reloading the gun, Adam found Goran
Vasic, saying "you too, dog", before shooting him twice in the head. Adam then walked into the venue and shot
Boris once more, telling onlookers to stand aside and let him die.
At 4.52pm, Constable Caitlyn Jones attended the scene and
arrested Adam.
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| The venue where the shooting occurred (source) |
Victims' background
Boris, Goran and Adam were all drinking buddies and had regularly
hung out at Players on Lygon for about four years before the murders. Unfortunately, Adam suffered from
schizophrenia and early on in 2010 began to harbour delusions that Boris and
Goran had been spiking Adam's drink and anally raping him.
Boris was 60 years old when he was killed and left behind a
wife. Goran was 44 years old and left behind a fiancee.
Convicted's
background
At the time of sentencing, Adam was 54 years old. He was born in Karabakh (a territory which is
fought over by Armenia and Azerbaijan).
The son of a dental technician and a factory worker, he also trained as
a dental technician. Following
completion of his studies, Adam served two years in compulsory military
service. He was commuting to Uzbekistan
for work when he met his wife. They
married in 1986 and had a son in 1988, settling in Armenia.
However, Armenia was soon caught up in civil war and Adam and
his family fled to Russia as refugees.
He came to Brisbane in 1997 on his own.
Shortly after this time Adam began to present with paranoid
schizophrenia, undergoing hospitalisation in 1997 and 1999. Adam's wife and son arrived in Australia
around 2000-2001. The marriage dissolved in
2004.
Adam moved to Melbourne, hoping
for a fresh start. However, although being
treated for mental illness, he ended up on heroin after moving into housing
commission flats in Carlton. In 2009 he underwent methadone treatment. While Adam's GP had concerns for his mental
health in late 2009, he was not treated again for schizophrenia until after the
murders in August 2010.
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| Court sketch of Adam Kosian (source) |
Outcome of trial
While Adam admitted his part in the murder and cooperated
with police, the matter still proceeded by trial because he relied on a defence
of mental impairment. This was
unsuccessful and a jury returned a guilty verdict.
Sentence
Adam was sentenced to a total of 20 years before eligible for parole,
25 years max. For each victim, Adam
received a sentence of 17 years but because they occurred in a single incident
the judge allowed for a substantial amount of time to be served concurrently.
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