A MAN who shot and killed Hoppers Crossing resident Mohammed Haddara appeared in the County Court on Friday to appeal his five-month sentence for firearms offences.

The court heard there was a long-running and violent dispute between the Haddara and Chaouk clans in Melbourne's north-west, and it allegedly continued when a member of the Haddara family was injured in Williamstown last week.

Ahmed Hablas, 21, of Brooklyn, lost his appeal for a reduced sentence in relation to discharging a high-powered rifle in Hatherley Grove, Altona North, 10 days after Mr Haddara's death on June 20 last year. Mr Haddara, 28, was shot two streets away in Fifth Avenue.

Hablas voluntarily visited the St Kilda Road police complex within 24 hours of the shooting, saying he had been abducted and the gun had gone off in self-defence.

Special counsel for Hablas, Alan Swanwick, told the court his client had acquired an unregistered firearm from an associate because he feared for his life. He said Hablas' younger brother had been flown out of the country for his own protection. On June 30, while his father was driving his brother to Melbourne Airport, Hablas, who was home with his elderly mother, heard sounds in the backyard, the court heard.

Mr Swanwick said his client saw balaclava-clad men climbing over a side fence into the backyard. Hablas seized the rifle and fired a bullet into the air to scare the intruders off, he added.

Mr Swanwick asked the court whether a person should be expected to wait like "a lamb to the slaughter, waiting for the slaughterman".

He said Hablas had been "unwittingly sucked into a Chaouk v Haddara feud" and that police had been either unable or unwilling to protect him.

Mr Swanwick said that about six weeks later, Hablas and a member of the Chaouk family were in a car outside McDonald's at Altona North when up to six shots were fired at them allegedly by members of the Haddara family.

His client followed his brother's lead and left Australia shortly thereafter. While he was out of the country, two members of the Haddara family visited Hablas' elderly father and "significantly assaulted" him with his own walking stick, the court heard.

Mr Swanwick said one of the assailants had been involved in an incident in Williamstown last week. The matter is before the courts.

In upholding the five-month sentence, Judge Paul Lacava said society would descend into violent chaos if people took vigilante action. "This community cannot allow its citizens to arm themselves with weapons and it cannot allow its citizens to effectively take the law into their own hands."