The 32-year-old, who was slain in the front yard of his parents’ Berkeley home last Saturday, was mourned by almost 200 people at Port Kembla’s St Kliment’s Macedonian Orthodox Church.

The service was low-key, but it was no ordinary funeral. Waiting media stood in the street, two Lake Illawarra detectives patrolled the perimeter, and the guest book will be used in the search for clues to Janceski’s killer.

As the mourners arrived, a white high-performance vehicle stopped briefly outside, the back window painted with the words, ‘‘Villain, Darko dead 4 eva’’.

Opposite, a friend collapsed to his knees, crying, ‘‘He was my best mate’’, while rejecting pleas to join the congregation.

As the hardwood coffin, draped with dozens of white roses, was taken from the hearse, a woman’s cries rang out, and the family formed around her.

Then followed a 65-minute service during which hymns were sung by a Macedonian priest and mourners came and then left after paying their respects to the deceased.

The service was brought to a close with a woman’s distressing cries of ‘‘No! No! No!’’, as the coffin was carried from the church.

Outside, Janceski’s family, including father Slobodan and mother Dosta, were comforted by family and friends.

En route to the Wollongong Lawn Cemetery at Kembla Grange, the funeral cortege conducted a drive-by of Gannett Ave, where Janceski was gunned down.

While much of Darko Janceski’s colourful past has been chronicled by the Mercury over the years, the support of his family has been unwavering.

When Janceski was sentenced to two years’ jail in June 2004 for causing the death of two teenagers in a high-speed car crash in 2001, Slobodan Janceski spoke of his grief, especially in the lead-up to Father’s Day.

After Janceski’s modest Barnes St home was destroyed in an apparent arson attack last November, it was his father to whom one neighbour paid tribute.

‘‘It’s the father I feel sorry for. He was always there at the home, doing renovations. He was responsible for most of the work.’’

Finally, when Janceski was gunned down in the front yard of his parents’ home, Slobodan Janceski was injured in his efforts to tackle the gunman as he made his escape on a trail bike.

Janceski’s short life was marked by violence and crime, but not enough to break a family bond.

As Slobodan Janceski said after his son’s 2004 conviction: ‘‘Darko knows that when he has done his time he has a supportive, loving family to come home to.’’