AS Judge Jennie Girdham put it: "it was not even his beef". He had no connection to the victim and the drug debt he was helping recoup was only $1900 and owed to his sister's boyfriend.
But on Australia Day last year, Paxton man Darcy Morgan armed himself with a loaded rifle and went to a remote property on the mid-north coast to confront the victim.
And even after his sister's boyfriend, Mathew Llewellyn, had left the property empty handed, Darcy remained, eventually shooting the victim in the arm at close range.
To understand why Darcy would shoot someone he didn't know over a debt that wasn't his, defence lawyers pointed to a combination of his drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder - in a "cruel twist of irony" triggered by being shot himself in 2022 - which has caused him to become even more hypervigilant and impulsive.
"It was either me or him," as Darcy described it to a psychiatrist. "I didn't know if he had a gun or not and I grabbed my gun and I shot him."
Darcy, who was on parole at the time of the shooting and has previously been convicted of shooting up a house, has pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
While his sister, Tessa Morgan, has admitted to being an accessory after the fact to the shooting for burning parts of the rifle in a backyard fire pit at Cessnock.
The pair faced a sentence hearing in Newcastle District Court on Friday, which focused on Darcy's mindset at the time of the shooting and why he decided to suddenly shoot the victim, the bullet fracturing his arm.
Darcy told a psychiatrist that after he was shot in 2022, his "anxiety peaked" and he suffered from "real bad paranoia".
"I felt like society is out to get me," he said. "I feel like I need to be in a bubble, like I always needed a weapon and it is me or them."
Defence barrister Rebecca Suters submitted there was a connection between his mental health and PTSD diagnosis and the shooting.
The victim was using methamphetamine and as of January 23 last year had accrued a debt of $1900 owed to Llewellyn, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Llewellyn had threatened the victim over the phone, telling him: "I am going to come and spray your house with bullets" and "keep your missus and your kid in the back room".
And at about 9.20pm on January 26, Darcy and Llewellyn left a home on the mid-north coast with a plan to recoup the drug debt by threatening the victim while armed with weapons.
Llewellyn took a metal pole, while Darcy had a loaded rifle, according to court documents.
They drove to the remote property at Seven Oaks in separate cars, Darcy driving a black Subaru WRX with altered number plates.
When they got there, the victim came outside and Llewellyn threatened him with the metal bar and again said he would "spray the house with bullets".
The victim shone a torch in his eyes and told him to leave and Llewellyn then drove off.
But Darcy remained where he was, sitting in his WRX.
The victim shone the torch at Darcy and told him to leave and Darcy replied: "If you touch my car, I will spray you up".
The victim went inside, but when he checked and the WRX was still sitting outside his property he went back out and said: "I thought I told you to f--- off".
Darcy then raised the rifle, pointed it at the victim and said "you gronk" before shooting him in the left arm.
He then fled while police and paramedics were being called.
Llewellyn was in February jailed for a maximum of two years and three months, with a non-parole period of 15 months for charges relating to the armed confrontation before the shooting.
Darcy and Tessa Morgan will be sentenced on October 4.
