The star witness adjusted his clothes before taking a seat and answering prosecutor Justin Whalley’s questions about his career, and how he came to know Pye.
He appeared nervous but eager as he detailed his work history, his involvement in the Australian Defence Force – including deployments overseas – and his volunteer work for an armed military charity in Iraq.
The man convicted of Nick Martin’s murder was a former soldier.Credit: Nine News Perth
He described himself as a “very experienced” firearms owner who, prior to his arrest, shot about 4000 rounds a year recreationally.
But on December 12, 2020, that hobby turned deadly when he hid in the bushes adjacent to Kwinana Motorplex and fired one round with lethal precision, piercing the body of Martin, 51, as he sat 365 metres away watching drag racing with his family.
The bullet exited Martin and stuck his stepdaughter’s partner, injuring him.
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The court heard on Wednesday that, after the shooting, Pye allegedly sent the hitman a text with two coffin emojis and clapping hands.
The brazen underworld murder sparked one of the biggest police operations in West Australian history amid fears of retaliatory attacks.
After four months of silence, police arrested the sniper.
The error that caught him out? Exchanging the barrel used in the assassination at a gun shop that was being monitored by police who, up against the bikie “code of silence”, had kept an eye on firearms databases for any information matching the model of long-range rifle used in the killing.
The sniper rolled, admitted his part in the shooting, and took a reduced murder sentence of 20 years in exchange for his co-operation in Pye’s trial.
‘He was the dodgiest person I knew’: Drugs, bikie infighting, and an alleged deadly deal
The court was told the pair allegedly first came into contact in 2019, when Pye messaged the sniper via Instagram to ask about volunteering for the overseas military charity he worked for.
After returning to Perth due to injury, and suffering PTSD, the sniper claimed he turned to Pye in an attempt to acquire ecstasy during the pandemic, when illicit drug supply chains were being cut off by border closures.
“I messaged him and asked if he would be able to get some MDMA, he said, ‘Yeah sure, I’ll get you a kilo’, I said I don’t need a kilo, we’ll just take a couple of caps,” the hitman, laughing, told the court on Thursday.
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“He was the dodgiest person I knew, and I thought he’s a bikie, he’ll be able to get MDMA when no one else can.
“He said, ‘I’m a Commo’. I didn’t know what that was, I thought he was telling me he was a communist, but I figured out it was Comancheros.”
Sporting a short-back-and-sides haircut and a beard, and wearing a blue button-up shirt and dress trousers, the sniper’s first day of evidence sought to portray a struggling ex-soldier who was living an ordinary life before, by unfortunate circumstance, he came into contact with a bikie who was out for blood, and saw the former serviceman as his ticket.
His alleged initial ignorance of bikie gangs and the ongoing infighting between the Mongols, Comancheros and Rebels stood in stark contrast to his life as one of the most infamous and protected prisoners in WA.
The sniper’s claimed motivation for being thrust into Perth’s violent underworld? The offer of $150,000 to kill Martin.
However, Pye claims the hitman is a liar.
At times, while listening to his evidence on Thursday, Pye gently shook his head and scoffed as the former soldier detailed the alleged timeline of events.
“[Pye] said their relationship soured when he defected with members of Roc City to the Comancheros,” the sniper said.
“He said Nick Martin wanted to put a hit on him, and he wanted to put a hit on Nick Martin.”
The trial continues.
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