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The grieving family of slain Croydon fruiterer Paul John Virgona say they are stuck in a never-ending nightmare, longing for a hug from the much-loved suburban footy coach.
Virgona was gunned down by bikies as he drove to work on EastLink, in a suspected case of mistaken identity. He was just two weeks away from winding down work to spend more time with his family.
Luca Virgona leaves court on Tuesday. He said he had lost his “best mate, my mentor, my inspiration”.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Son Luca Virgona came face to face with his father’s killers – Mongol bikies Josh Rider, 33, and Aaron Yokran Ong, 37 – on Tuesday in the Supreme Court, where the 20-year-old revealed the torment he faces living without his dad.
The university student told the court he longed for another chance to hug his father, whose last words to him the night before his death were to wish him goodnight.
“I’ve truly lost something that cannot be expressed. Grief … consumes me,” Luca sobbed.
“I now live with the what-ifs, the why. If only I’d … given him one last hug.
Aaron Ong (left) and Josh Rider being taken into the Supreme Court on Tuesday.Credit: Eddie Jim
“He’s gone forever, my best mate, my mentor, my inspiration.”
Virgona’s extended family cried and held hands as details of the 46-year-old’s final moments were revealed.
The court heard Rider and Ong had waited outside Virgona’s Croydon home for about two hours before following the father as he left for work at the Epping Markets about 2am on November 9, 2019.
Driving a stolen grey high-powered Mercedes-Benz, the killers followed seconds behind Virgona’s work van as he travelled through the Melba Tunnel. Soon after, the pair drove alongside the footy coach and fired 11 bullets into the driver’s side door.
Paul Virgona was shot dead while driving along EastLink.
Virgona died at the scene, his seat belt still fastened and his mobile phone illuminated in his lap.
It is not known which of the two bikies fired the fatal shots.
In November 2020, on the eve of his trial, Rider pleaded guilty to murder. In December, following a trial, a jury found Ong guilty of murder.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson, KC, said Virgona was the eldest of three siblings, a devoted family man who had been with his wife for 22 years. He was an avid football fan and had been appointed head coach of the Croydon under-19s side shortly before his death.
Josh Rider pleaded guilty to murder in 2020.
A grocer by trade, Virgona ran his own business in Thornbury and serviced hospitality venues across metropolitan Melbourne.
“He was known to be a hard-working person in the process of winding up his business to spend more time with family. He only had two more weeks before finalising his business,” Gibson said.
“He had no criminal association and no association with the Mongols. There is nothing in Mr Virgona’s background that explains why he was targeted and killed.”
Rider, from Port Melbourne, had been a member of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang for about 10 years and Ong, of Kilsyth, an associate of the bikie club for about five years at the time of the shooting.
Supporters of Mongols bikies Aaron Ong and Josh Rider outside court on Tuesday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
In court, Virgona’s sobbing family sat shoulder to shoulder with a group supporting the two Mongol bikies in a packed three-row viewing gallery, where even the heavily tattooed bunch struggled to hold back tears as the slain man’s loved ones addressed the court.
There, Luca recalled the moment he first learnt of his father’s death.
“Mum [woke me up] with tears streaming down her face. I knew something had to have gone horribly wrong. Emotions flooded my like a tidal wave. I screamed in pure anguish and despair,” he said.
“Nothing has been the same since.”
Pausing to compose herself before reading her statement, the victim’s wife, Antoinette Virgona, faced the judge as she described her husband as a happy, carefree man who loved to make others laugh.
She said she imagined growing old with him and now instead she carried a broken, heavy heart.
“Whatever great achievements or events our children now have, there is always an underlying sadness to the occasion. Paul is not there to be part of it, to hug them and say how proud he is. I could not have asked for a better father,” she said.
“I will miss Paul for the rest of my life.”
Daughter Giulia Virgona, 17, described her father as the best dad she could have asked for, recalling how he used to buy her favourite flower each week and support her in her studies.
“If you ask me what I miss most about my dad, I wouldn’t be able to say just one thing. His smile, his hugs, his laugh,” she said.
“When I think of my dad, the first thing I think of is home. It’s hard to imagine my future without my dad.”
For the first time, defence barrister Dermot Dann, KC, revealed he did not take issue with the public narrative that Virgona’s murder was a case of “mistaken identity”.
Paul Virgona’s father Giuseppe, son Luca and wife Antonietta.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Dann said Rider had since disclosed to a psychologist that the shooting was an “extremely poor decision” and that death was not meant to happen.
Ong and Rider will return to court at a later date to be sentenced.
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