Nguyen and Curham borrowed an Audi from a friend and attached stolen number plates to it, before driving to Napier Street in Fitzroy.
About 4pm, Laidlaw walked to the car, greeted Curham and got into the front passenger seat.
Nguyen shot him in the back after a few minutes, with Laidlaw getting out of the car and running across the street before collapsing and being left to die on the road.
Police found eight voice recordings on Nguyen’s phone after he was arrested.
In one recording between the pair, Nguyen said he was “happy just to pop him, just to f—ing make you feel a bit better about what happened … like f—ing a bit of revenge”.
Nguyen’s defence barrister argued the recordings did not prove the shooting was pre-planned.
However, Beale found otherwise.
“Whilst the two of you may have been drug-affected and your conversations were sometimes bizarre and reminiscent of a Tarantino film, it is clear from the recorded conversations that you planned with Curham to shoot Laidlaw,” he said.
Beale said Curham received a two-year discount on her sentence following her guilty plea, though her role in luring Laidlaw to the car was “critical”.
“Even though you did not pull the trigger, you were a major player in the joint criminal enterprise,” he said.
Nguyen was not entitled to a discount due to taking his murder charge to trial and having a lengthy criminal history, poor prospects of rehabilitation and showing a lack of genuine remorse, Justice Beale said.
The couple have already served more than 800 days in custody.
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