John Della Franca fined for shooting at murder victim’s friends during missing man search in Pemberton

A Pemberton man who shot and killed a local farmer has appeared in court while serving his life sentence, this time on charges relating to shots he fired at his victim’s friends while they searched for the then-missing man. John Gerard Benny Della Franca, 67, appeared in the Manjimup Magistrates Court on Thursday, via video call from Bunbury Regional Prison. The appearance came a week after Della Franca was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 20-year non-parole period for the murder of Pemberton father Tony Ditri on August 27, 2021. Della Franca pleaded guilty to two additional charges — discharging a firearm to cause fear and possessing an unlicensed firearm — which the court was told occurred on the same day. Two of Mr Ditri’s friends had been searching for their mate when he failed to check in with family, who first thought he was running late from work which included dropping landscape waste at the tip across the road from Della Franca’s farm. On Thursday the court was told he fired shots at the search party with a .22 rifle. The visitors were shocked and returned to their vehicle before Della Franca shot six more rounds. Della Franca had a firearm licence at the time, but not for the 12-gauge shotgun which was used in the offending and registered to his son Andrew John Della Franca. Magistrate Anthony Sullivan fined Della Franca $1200 for the two charges. Della Franca’s murder sentence was handed down by the Supreme Court on September 13. On that day, the court was told Della Franca had been a “paranoid” Pemberton farmer, who “effectively executed” Mr Ditri because he wrongly believed he was stealing avocados from his orchard. Della Franca attempted to cover up the murder, burying the body on someone else’s farm and telling police he had accidentally shot Mr Ditri before throwing his body in the river. He also attempted to stage a scene at the river with Mr Ditri’s car to make it look like he had gone missing while fishing, but became bogged while doing so.