{"id":72203,"date":"2026-06-12T21:09:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/72203\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:09:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:09:37","slug":"gavin-prestons-murderer-jaeden-tito-had-kind-caring-nature-his-mother-tells-court-using-chatgpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/72203\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Preston’s murderer Jaeden Tito had ‘kind, caring nature’ his mother tells court using ChatGPT"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the help of ChatGPT, Jaeden Tito’s mother has stood up in Victoria’s Supreme Court and told a judge her son, a convicted killer, had a “kind and caring nature”.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have seen things differently, however, and called for Tito to be locked up for life after carrying out a public execution three years ago.<\/p>\n

Tito and co-accused Rabii Zahabe were found guilty in May of shooting underworld figure Gavin Preston<\/a> outside a Melbourne cafe in September 2023 in a contract killing.<\/p>\n

\"Crime<\/p>\n

Gavin Preston’s family did not provide victim impact statements to the court. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

Prosecutors and defence lawyers today went head-to-head in court about what punishment the men should receive.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill KC described the killing as falling into the “worst category”, which warranted a life sentence.<\/p>\n

“The murder is extensively planned, it is sophisticated, it is an execution. It is offending in company with firearms,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The offending exposed many innocent members of the public to the trauma of the execution.<\/p>\n

“Perhaps most significantly, your honour, this was murder for hire.”<\/p>\n

Defence lawyers for the murderers said a life sentence was too harsh given their age and onerous conditions in prison.<\/p>\n

Loading…Murderer’s mum says son had ‘caring nature’<\/p>\n

In unusual scenes, Mr Tito’s mother Levi was then called to the witness box and gave a character reference for her son.<\/p>\n

Ms Tito told the judge it was a statement crafted with the help of ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

“Never in my life did I imagine I would be writing a letter to a court regarding my son being convicted of murder and attempted murder,” she said.<\/p>\n

“He has always had a kind and caring nature, and his compassion for family friends and even strangers has been one of his defining qualities.<\/p>\n

“He has always been polite, considerate and willing to help those around him.”<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police outside Sweet Lulu’s cafe in Keilor in September 2023. (AAP: Joel Carrett)<\/p>\n

She said while in prison her son read books and wrote letters and cards for Christmas and people’s birthdays.<\/p>\n

“He has also taken up colouring \u2014 something that helps him clear his mind and find some peace,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When we learned of his arrest in October 2023,our world changed forever. I remember feeling complete disbelief. I could not reconcile the allegations with the son I knew I had raised. The shock was overwhelming.”<\/p>\n

Metres away, Preston’s fianc\u00e9e sat in the public gallery.<\/p>\n

She made no victim impact statement, nor did any of the victim’s other loved ones.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said any homicide would cause “significant and substantial” grief to those who knew the victim. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“[Preston] has a family who loved him and who miss him,” Ms Churchill said.<\/p>\n

Police still searching for motive<\/p>\n

Preston had many enemies in the underworld, had a long criminal record, and had served time in prison for defensive homicide.<\/p>\n

The motive behind his execution remains a mystery, the trial heard earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Police flooded with theories surrounding Gavin Preston’s death<\/a><\/p>\n

Victoria’s Supreme Court hears police received numerous tip-offs after underworld figure Gavin Preston was shot dead, including claims of a cemetery desecration and a feud with an illegal tobacco kingpin.<\/p>\n

Police said investigations into who ordered the hit were continuing.<\/p>\n

On September 9, 2023, chaotic scenes unfolded at Sweet Lulu’s cafe in Keilor when two masked men got out of a stolen car and fired at Preston and his friend AJ Maghnie.<\/p>\n

Preston died on the ground but Mr Maghnie survived after being shot in the abdomen.<\/p>\n

Tito, 25, and Zahabe, 26, denied being the shooters, but their lawyers conceded they may have been involved in a broader plot to move a number of getaway vehicles into place.<\/p>\n

Their DNA was later found in the cars and on items inside, including a balaclava and a glove.<\/p>\n

At the trial, prosecutors also pointed to the men’s actions afterwards to link them to the shooting.<\/p>\n

Tito suffered burns to his arm while setting one of the cars alight.<\/p>\n

Days later, he went on a holiday with his girlfriend and posed for happy snaps with a heavily bandaged arm visible.<\/p>\n

Zahabe went online to look up Islamic passages about seeking forgiveness, searched for “no extradition countries”, and had a picture of Preston on his phone.<\/p>\n

On Friday the killers were brought to the Supreme Court in an armoured “Bearcat” vehicle instead of the regular prison van.<\/p>\n

Tito grinned at waiting photographers as he was escorted into court.<\/p>\n

Once inside, regular security guards were swapped out for members of Corrections Victoria’s elite tactical unit.<\/p>\n

Mr Zahabe’s barrister Paul Smallwood said his client maintained his innocence.<\/p>\n

“We’re not pleading remorse, we’re not pleading an acceptance of responsibility,” Mr Smallwood said.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Smallwood said a life sentence should not be imposed because his client was young and was being held in solitary confinement in prison.<\/p>\n

Barrister for Mr Tito, Daniel Sala, also argued against a life sentence.<\/p>\n

He said the court could consider an unusually-long jail term, potentially in the order of 50 years.<\/p>\n

Justice Michael O’Connell will sentence the pair at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the help of ChatGPT, Jaeden Tito’s mother has stood up in Victoria’s Supreme Court and told a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[580,39862,39859,39860,7667,157,39861,39863],"class_list":["post-72203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-chatgpt","tag-contract-killing","tag-gavin-preston","tag-jaeden-tito","tag-murder","tag-openai","tag-rabii-zahabe","tag-sweet-lulu-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}