A 30-year-old man was shot dead and left in a shallow grave because his alleged killers believed he had abused children, a court has heard.
Jordan Bottom, 24, Rikki Smith, 25 and Albert Thorn, 57, are facing trial in the Supreme Court charged with murdering Bradley Lyons sometime between December 2 and 3, 2018.
Prosecutors allege Mr Lyons had finished work for the day when Mr Smith and Mr Thorn entered his Lakes Entrance home wearing balaclavas and carrying a shotgun and a steel pole.
The pair allegedly assaulted him before binding him with duct tape.
Mr Lyons was then carried bound and put in the boot of a Toyota Corolla and driven to Mr Thorn's property at Nyerimilang where Mr Bottom was living at the time, the court was told.
The court heard Mr Lyons was left in the boot for hours while the three alleged killers held discussions inside a disused water tank about what to with Mr Lyons.
Later that night, they allegedly removed Mr Lyons from the boot, tied him to a massage table and assaulted him again.
Sometime later he was allegedly put back inside the boot of the car and driven down a dirt road at Double Bridges, north of Bruthen.
The court heard the trio led Mr Lyons to a shallow grave about 20 metres away from the road and placed him inside it.
Earlier, Crown prosecutor Raymond Gibson QC told the court Mr Thorn shot Mr Lyons twice with the shotgun.
"The first shot was fired in the direction of Lyons' leg, the second shot was fired into the back of Lyons' head, causing his immediate death," Mr Gibson said.
The trial began on August 18 and is expected to run for five weeks.
'Attack planned'
Prosecutors allege Mr Thorn and another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, planned to kidnap and assault Mr Lyons in a bid to make him confess to child abuse.
The court heard police found Mr Lyons' body in March 2019, three months after the alleged murder.
Mr Smith, Mr Bottom and Mr Thorn were charged with false imprisonment, assault and murder.
Mr Bottom has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mr Smith pleaded not guilty to murder, false imprisonment and assault, but pleaded guilty to an additional charge of intentionally causing injury.
Mr Thorn pleaded not guilty to assault and murder, but guilty to false imprisonment as well as additional charges of intentionally causing injury and unlawful injury.
Defence responds
Mr Bottom's lawyer, David Cronin, told the court it was Mr Thorn who shot Mr Lyons and his client denied he was involved in a plan to kill Mr Lyons.
Mr Cronin told the court Mr Bottom feared for his safety and told the police where the body was located.
Lawyer John Saunders, who represented Mr Smith, said his client denied any intention and agreement to kill or seriously injure Mr Lyons.
Mr Thorn's lawyer, James Anderson, told the court his client did not travel with the other accused to the site of Mr Lyons' murder and was not present during the shooting.
Mr Anderson said Mr Thorn only came to know of the murder when Mr Bottom returned to his home and developed an "imperfect understanding" of what had occurred.
Witness Christopher Nowell told the court on Thursday he had given incorrect information in parts of his police statement made in 2019.
Mr Nowell told the court he was affected by the drug ice at the time of giving his two statements to police.
In initial police statements Mr Nowell told police Mr Thorn had asked if he wanted to help with what was planned.
In court yesterday he said this was not the case.
The jury did not appear on Friday and are expected to return on Monday.
