A bitter $400 dispute over unpaid speeding fines between two long-time close friends ended in a fatal accidental shooting, followed by an extensive attempt to cover up the crime, Victoria’s Supreme Court has been told this week.
On Wednesday, 61-year-old Robert Mantini appeared for sentencing submissions after entering a guilty plea to a charge of homicide by firearm. His co-accused, 66-year-old Shane Dalton, also pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact, for aiding Mantini’s efforts to evade law enforcement in the months following the 2024 killing.
The victim, 42-year-old Adrian Romeo, was described in court as a devoted family man caring for his aging parents when he disappeared in February 2024, shortly after leaving his parents’ home in his father’s gold Toyota Camry. Months after his disappearance, search teams located partially burned human remains near a creek bank on a Wildwood farm, on Melbourne’s outer northwestern fringe, which were later confirmed to belong to Romeo.
Crown prosecutor Erin Ramsey outlined to the court that the friendship between Romeo and Mantini collapsed in October 2023, when a financial disagreement erupted over two speeding fines totaling roughly $400. According to Ramsey’s account, Romeo had hired a vehicle for Mantini, but Romeo told associates Mantini had refused to cover the cost of the speeding infringements issued to the car. The dispute simmered for months, until February 10, 2024, when Romeo drove to Mantini’s Greenvale residence armed with the fine documents and his phone to confront Mantini.
Witnesses told the court that when Romeo arrived, Mantini told him to be silent, snatched the infringement paperwork, and left the room. He returned minutes later holding a loaded pump-action shotgun, screaming and calling Romeo a derogatory term. Romeo begged Mantini not to act recklessly, then complied when Mantini ordered him to leave. As Romeo turned his back toward the exit and walked away, the shotgun discharged accidentally, striking him in the back and killing him instantly, Ramsey said.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Mantini recruited his son Luca Mantini – who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the case – to help clean blood from the property and drag Romeo’s body to the gold Toyota Camry. Mantini then contacted Dalton, who arrived quickly at the property and the pair drove in convoy to the Wildwood farm. Once there, Mantini cut up both the vehicle and Romeo’s body, burned the remains, and later sold the charred wreckage of the car as scrap metal. Only 0.47 percent of Romeo’s remains have been recovered and returned to his family, a detail that members of Romeo’s family heard confirmed publicly for the first time during Wednesday’s court proceedings.
Ramsey argued that Mantini took deliberate, extraordinarily brutal steps to cover up his responsibility for the shooting. “The disposal of the vehicle and body was particularly callous,” she told the court.
Dalton’s role in the cover-up included supplying a commercial-grade saw for Mantini to use, providing false information to law enforcement, and making two trips to the Wildwood farm to support Mantini. Prosecutors have not alleged that Dalton personally took part in destroying Romeo’s body or the vehicle.
Romeo’s older brother told the court that within days of his brother’s disappearance, he suspected foul play and reported his concerns to police, who asked him to keep the investigation confidential. For six months leading up to the recovery of remains, he said he carried the secret burden of knowing harm had come to his brother, while his elderly parents continued to wait, worry, and hope that their son would return home safely.
Defense barrister Michael McGrath, representing Mantini, acknowledged that the loss of Romeo has left a permanent, devastating impact on the victim’s family. McGrath noted that his client experienced a severely disadvantaged childhood, and lived for years under the weight of a potential murder charge before prosecutors accepted that the shooting was accidental. He urged Justice Kerri Judd not to allow Mantini’s actions after the shooting to overshadow the fact that the killing itself was accidental. “We don’t dispute the facts of what occurred after the incident, but we caution against the court placing excess weight or undue weight on post offence conduct,” McGrath said. “This is a case where Mr Mantini has clearly undertaken efforts to distance himself from this incident, accidental as it was.”
Moya O’Brien, representing Dalton, told the court that her client’s actions stemmed from “misguided loyalty” to his friend, and that Dalton was struggling with active methamphetamine addiction at the time of the crime. “(He) thinks what happened to Adrian was disgusting. Mr Dalton is ashamed for his own conduct in this matter,” O’Brien said. She added that Dalton also faced a traumatic, deprived childhood, and had worked for years to escape poverty before succumbing to substance use disorder that led to his involvement in the crime. O’Brien urged the justice to consider the limited scope of Dalton’s role when determining his sentence.
Justice Judd has announced she will deliver her sentencing decision at a future date.