An Oahu Circuit Court judge on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old Waianae man, convicted in the attempted murder of a man he shot multiple times in the face and elsewhere, to two back-to-back life sentences.

The Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office calls it one of the strongest sentences in Hawaii history.

Circuit Judge Paul Wong’s sentencing of Brandon Lafoga in the Sept. 16, 2015, botched murder of Kele Stout “ensures that Lafoga will never be released on parole,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

Deputy Prosecutors David Van Acker and Wilson Unga proved at trial that Lafoga shot Stout four times with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and then planned to burn him to get rid of the body.

“This is an outstanding result that accurately reflects the heinousness of Lafoga’s crimes,” said Acting Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Nadamoto.

A jury found Lafoga guilty Dec. 4 of second-degree attempted murder, kidnapping and gun charges.

Nadamoto congratulated the deputy prosecutors, saying they “worked tirelessly to help ensure the safety of our community.”

Prior to the shooting, another man, Ranier Ines, now 46, reportedly kidnapped his co-worker, Stout, as they were leaving a job site. The two worked for a countertop manufacturing company.

The kidnapping started with an argument between Stout and Ines, who accused Stout of going through his bag, a police affidavit said.

Ines pulled a gun from his backpack, pointed it at Stout and ordered him to drive the company van to Waianae, the affidavit said.

Ines struck him in the brow with the gun, causing a large gash. Stout said he overheard Ines telling someone over the phone they will have rent and he was going to “rob and dump the body.”

Ines had Stout drive to a garage in Waianae where Lafoga was waiting. Stout was ordered to sit on a cooler in the garage, was bound with shoelaces, and his head was covered with a towel.

Ines and Lafoga beat Stout for 20 minutes before Ines told Lafoga to “ditch the body” and “handle him,” the affidavit said.

Stout, who remained tied up, was forced back into the van and driven to an unknown location. When he heard Lafoga approaching, he closed his eyes and was shot in the face.

Lafoga resumed driving while Stout managed to free his hands.

While driving, Lafoga shot at Stout again, hitting him in the back and buttocks, the affidavit said.

Lafoga then drove to a store in Maili, with Stout still in the van, where he went to buy accelerant to burn Stout’s body and work van.

Lafoga subsequently stopped to meet someone in Nanakuli and left the engine running. Stout got into the driver’s seat and drove himself to Waiane Coast Comprehensive Health Center.

There a security guard found him leaning on the horn and barely conscious. He fell into a coma for several days but later recovered from gunshot wounds to his head, face, torso, buttocks and legs.

Court documents show that Lafoga told an ex- girlfriend in a phone call that he shot a man to “earn rank.”

After CrimeStoppers put out a request for information about the shooting, tipsters alerted police of Lafoga’s involvement and that his mother had flown him to Alaska.

Honolulu police learned in April 2016 that Lafoga was serving time in a Wasilla, Alaska, prison on an unrelated domestic violence conviction and was scheduled to be released June 28, 2016.

Lafoga was charged in the Hawaii case that same month, and police arrested him at the airport in Honolulu in July 2016.

Ines, who also faces a life sentence, will be sentenced July 30.

He was found guilty Dec. 4 of acting as an accomplice to attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and gun charges.