Lindita Musai had been trying to start a new life away from her father when she was cut down in a hail of bullets alongside her new husband on New Year’s Eve.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Mrs Musai feared her father Osman Shaptafaj, 55, who is accused of killing her and husband Veton Musai before turning the gun on himself.
A family member, who wished to remain anonymous, said Mrs Musai had endured a ‘difficult’ upbringing.
‘I’ll just say it was nothing to do with his background or his beliefs, as he has no beliefs,’ the man said.
The devastated family member spoke out amid speculation about why the couple may have been murdered.
Victoria Police were investigating a family dispute as the motive behind the chilling attack ahead of the New Year.
The couple reportedly had other guests at their home when the incident took place.
They were found on the front porch of their house with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.
A gun was found at the end of the street on public land. Investigators are now trying to piece together what drove the man to allegedly open fire.
Friends and family of the pair were on Tuesday seen in tears on the suburban street as they comforted each other.
Mr Musai’s cousin shared his grief on Facebook after the 29-year-old died in hospital.
‘I don’t know how to put the words together.. Allah knows best why things happen the way they do,’ he started, before adding he ‘can’t even begin to explain’ how he’s feeling.
‘The only thing keeping us strong is belief in God.
‘May Allah bring the two gorgeous souls together again in Jannah.’
The young couple had only been married a year, but had been a couple for at least five. Friends described their wedding as one of the ‘best they’d ever been to’.
‘Such a lovely couple, such a lovely family… One of the best weddings I’ve been to in Australia,’ a friend of the family wrote on Facebook.
Mrs Musai was employed as a receptionist for real estate firm Colliers International in Melbourne’s CBD while her husband worked at a nearby bank.