A woman involved in the Canberra drug trade has cried while recounting an alleged murder attempt that occurred in her home, saying her friend was shot in the face "for no reason whatsoever".
"Nobody should have their lives [put] at risk by someone who has no proof, no justification," the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.
She was speaking about a March 2021 incident in which her friend was shot multiple times, allegedly because of unsubstantiated rumours he was "a kiddie fiddler".
The alleged gunman, Sugimatatihuna Bernard Gabriel Mena, is on trial, charged with attempted murder, an alternative of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary, and unlawfully discharging a firearm in an act endangering life. The 24-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Co-accused Bradley Joe Roberts, 24, and Rebecca Dulcie Parlov, 25, are also standing trial, having denied the sole charge of aggravated burglary levelled at them.
The trio is accused of invading the Spence home of Wednesday's witness on the morning in question, when the victim suffered gunshot wounds to his jaw, stomach and left forearm.
Defence counsel have told a jury it is not in dispute that the shooting occurred, with the identity of the intruders the key issue to be determined in the trial.
Before the occupant of the Spence home gave evidence on Wednesday, the jury watched videos of police interviews recorded a few weeks after the incident.
The woman was reluctant to give police details on the first occasion, when an interviewing police officer implored her to explain how the victim "got a hole in his face".
She did the second interview a day later, identifying the three accused as the people who had invaded her home and made her feel, in her words, "like absolute f---ing shit".
Asked in court by Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey about her initial hesitance to speak to investigators, the woman, who was on parole at the time in question, said she feared there would be "ramifications".
These might be "threats, harassment, intimidation, assaults", according to the woman, who agreed with Mr Hickey when he asked if that was what she meant when she told police they had "no idea the risks someone takes" in speaking up.
When Mr Hickey queried why she had changed her mind after the first interview and spoken to police again the next day, the woman made the comment about there being no justification for the shooting.
"[Those responsible] have done something for no reason whatsoever," the woman said.
"There is no reason that someone should die because somebody doesn't like them."
The woman gave an account of the shooting and the hours that led up to it, saying she and the victim, who has told the court he was driving her around to deal drugs, met with Roberts in a Bonner car park.
She said the victim confronted Roberts about why that accused had been publicly labelling him a paedophile, and Roberts expressed a desire to contact "Sugi and Bec" so the issue could be dealt with.
The woman told the court she had subsequently received "persistent" phone calls from Parlov, who was demanding to know where she and the victim were.
She said Parlov later arrived at her house and "started banging on the door".
The female accused eventually barged in, the woman said, and got straight in the face of the victim, who grabbed a kitchen knife.
The woman said Parlov was followed into the house by Roberts and then Mena, the latter of whom "came storming in" and shot the victim.
Fighting through tears, she said Mena, after "fumbling with the gun", raised it again and shot the victim in the face.
Still emotional later in her evidence, she said she been worried in the aftermath "somebody was about to die in my house".
The trial, before Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson, continues.
