Brothers, father accused of murdering man in alleged plot to retrieve DJ gear

A mother has wailed in court as her husband and two sons were remanded in custody, charged with the alleged murder of a father-of-five in Melbourne’s south-east.

Duane Hutchings, 44, was shot in the back of the head at the Clayton Road apartment in Oakleigh on Saturday morning.

He died soon after in hospital.

Today John Panagiotou, 18, his older brother, George, and father Tony fronted the Melbourne Magistrate Court accused of Mr Hutchings’ murder.

The trio are accused of storming the apartment with metal poles and a sawn-off shotgun, as part of an alleged plot to retrieve DJ gear - hired out by the sons’ business, "Love It Loud."

John Panagiotou and his mother Mary attended the Doncaster police station at 7.15pm on Friday, to report their DJ equipment stolen, the court heard.

About four hours later, they returned with his father and brother to said they'd found the items on Gumtree.

Posing as buyers, the men allegedly contacted the female seller, which lead them to the Clayton Road unit.

Just after 5am on Saturday, a Triple-Zero call was made to report that Mr Hutchings had been shot.

"One offender threatened her with a (metal) pole and told her 'not to touch her phone' for five minutes, before fleeing in two separate vehicles." Detective Megan Adams told the court.

The courtroom heard father, Tony Panagiotou, had made full admissions, with his son's lawyers implying that the alleged murder weapon could and would be found relatively quickly by Homicide Squad detectives.

"Here's my biggest issue,” Magistrate Con Kilias said, adding: "There may be two or three or more co-accused out there. I don't know who's got that gun."

As the three men sat in the dock, Mrs Panagiotu wept uncontrollably.

All three men and an associate, Jonathan Atalalis, have been remanded to face court again in June.