John Makita

This wasn't the average robbery.

The brutality of the attack shocked the community.

Violently assaulted before the two men ransacked the premises and stole cash and jewellery.

My grandparents were beaten and my grandmother was left to die on the lounge room floor.

Oh, look, Stockie, I think from the family's perspective, we're just happy that there's a conviction of something.

Yeah, we would have loved to have received a murder conviction for both of the offenders, but manslaughter to us is just good enough, I suppose, for now, because it's not the only charge that they've been found guilty of.

So we're more interested in finding out what the actual sentencing is going to be for these two offenders, more so than what it actually means to murder versus manslaughter.

Look, I loved my grandparents so much.

I had such a good relationship with them.

I spent a phenomenal amount of time with them.

Whenever I was sick or during the school holidays, I would always go to my grandparents.

And so I have very fond memories of both my grandparents, more so my grandmother, because my grandfather would always go to work in the morning.

He worked in the family carpentry business.

But even on the weekends when I'd see him or if I was sick, you know, he was always quite jovial, always a bit of a joker with us kids and always very, very kind.

But my grandmother to me was the most important person in my life.

I listened to everything that she said.

I took her advice and, you know, she really cared for everybody in the family.

She was the matriarch of our family.

And it was, yeah, it was terrible when suddenly she just disappeared from being that person for everybody in the family.

They were generous.