A MAN who claims he was "duped" into driving an alleged gunman to Stockton on the night Stacey Klimovitch was shot dead said he turned his phone off on the journey because he thought someone was going to get "bashed", a jury has heard.
But during three recorded conversations with police - including two lengthy interviews - Stephen John Garland repeatedly denied any knowledge that there was going to be a shooting and said he never saw a gun.
Mr Garland, now 65, has pleaded not guilty to murder and being an accessory after the fact to murder over the death of Mrs Klimovitch, who was shot once in the chest with a shotgun after she answered her front door in Queen Street about 8pm on June 9, 2021 in what prosecutors allege was a "targeted" and "premeditated" shooting.
Mr Garland claims he was "duped" into unknowingly participating in the 61-year-old's murder and told police he was "coaxed" into driving the alleged gunman to and from Stockton on the night of the shooting by the mastermind, Stuart Campbell, who repeatedly asked him to repay a favour and drive his "mate" to Stockton.
The jury has spent the last two days listening to police interviews with Mr Garland, during which he explained the "favour" he owed Mr Campbell, how Mr Campbell called it in on the night of the opening game of the 2021 State of Origin series and the journey to and from Stockton with Mr Campbell's "mate".
When asked by an investigator whether he had his phone on him at the time of the trip from Heddon Greta to Stockton, Mr Garland replied: "I turned it off at some stage".
"I have no recollection of turning it off," Mr Garland said. "If someone is going to get bashed over there, that was my first thought, I am only assuming this. I don't want my car getting mixed up with someone who is getting bashed. Your phone at least tracks where you're going, so I turned it off."
Mr Garland said he wasn't told why his passenger needed to go to Stockton but he thought it was "suss" and his passenger was "up to no good" when he didn't simply drop him off and instead was told to park in a back street and wait.
"He asked me to park in the dark and then asked me to wait for five or six minutes," Mr Garland told police. "This is not what I thought was going down. Then I thought this is a square up for a bashing that had happened a few days earlier. "It is just something that went through my head. "Campbell never said I want you to take my mate over to Stockton to bash someone."
He said his passenger left, but returned to the car a few minutes later and at some stage took something out of the boot. His passenger left again and this time came back "breathing erratically".
Mr Garland said his passenger then said "I think I dropped a shell" and began searching around his seat.
The passenger said "get going" and asked to be driven to Argenton and Mr Garland maintained that during the trip there was no discussion about what had happened in Stockton, even when a wave of police cars came past heading the other way near Industrial Drive.
Mr Garland said he wanted his passenger out of the car as quickly as possible, but was asked by investigators why he was so eager to get away from him.
"The shell, the sussness [sic] of the parking in the dark," Mr Garland said. "Still I was not thinking murder because I didn't know nothing about a murder at that stage. Something illegal has happened, yes. Enough to make him flustered, sweaty a different persona about him. The sussness [sic] of it all, this picture was adding up in my head."
He said it wasn't until the next day that he heard about the murder of a grandmother and he started thinking Mr Campbell had unknowingly involved him it.
He said even though he didn't know about the plot he tried to obtain an alibi for why his car was in Stockton on the night. He said he didn't go to police because he didn't want to "dog" and hoped it would all go away.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, has told the jury the murder stemmed from ongoing animosity between Mrs Klimovitch and Mr Campbell, the ex-partner of Mrs Klimovitch's daughter.
He said Mr Campbell had the motive and arranged the murder, recruiting the alleged gunman to pull the trigger and Mr Garland to drive him to and from Stockton.
He said the three men were engaged in a joint criminal enterprise to murder Mrs Klimovitch and, while he didn't pull the trigger, Mr Garland knew his role was the driver.
Mr Campbell was charged with murder but died before facing trial.
The trial continues.
