A Sydney man killed in an execution-style shooting at a Jamberoo lookout in June, 2014 was collateral damage in a drug deal scam put together by a known con artist, a court has heard.
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John Gasovski’s body was found by a park ranger in Buderoo National Park on June 15. He had been shot in the head and his body dumped over the edge of a cliff.
An investigation into his death led police to charge interstate truckie and Wagga resident Glen Dunstall with murder. He denies the allegations.
In his opening address to Dunstall’s Supreme Court trial in Wollongong on Monday, Crown prosecutor David Scully said a cash-strapped Mr Gasovski was working as a delivery driver for one of Dunstall’s criminal associates in Sydney when he was killed.
The court heard the associate had approached Dunstall in March with financial troubles, prompting Dunstall to say he had a friend in Canberra who would sell the associate 200 pounds of cannabis on credit.
At the same time, the pair discussed the associate getting Dunstall a gun so he could “scare” another dealer who had previously sold him dodgy drugs. Dunstall received the gun on May 5 at a pub in Sydney.
Meantime, Mr Scully said he expected the associate would tell jurors he sent Mr Gasovski and a second man to Wagga on May 15 to deliver a $30,000 down payment for the cannabis. It is alleged Dunstall received a further $15,000 on June 2 after the order was increased to 300 pounds.
However, the Crown will allege there was no cannabis and the deal was an elaborate scam cooked up by Dunstall to defraud the associate.
Mr Scully told jurors they would hear evidence that Dunstall had done the same thing to two men in Wagga, taking deposits for items that either didn’t exist or weren’t his to sell.
Meantime, the court heard the associate had arranged for Mr Gasovski to meet Dunstall at Sutton Forrest on June 9. From there, they were to travel to Canberra together to collect the cannabis in Mr Gavroski’s Hyundai van.
However, Mr Scully said the Crown case was the pair instead met at Pheasants Nest before driving to the Jamberoo lookout where Dunstall fatally shot Mr Gasovski.
It is alleged Dunstall then drove the van back to Pheasants Nest where his truck was parked, abandoned the van at the southbound service station, then got in his truck and drove to a worksite in Sydney, where he allegedly dumped Mr Gasovski’s incripted Blackberry phone.
The phone was later discovered by a worker on site however no data could be retrieved from it.
Dunstall was arrested on May 12, 2015.
Mr Scully said in Dunstall’s interview with police, which will be played in court, he admitted discussing the cannabis deal with the associate but claimed he was only acting to introduce the two parties and was to play no hand in picking it up.
He denied getting downpayments or using a Blackberry.
He told police he did meet Mr Gasovski at Sutton Forrest on June 9 but claimed he was with two other men of Islander appearance at the time. He said Mr Gasovski handed him his mobile phone then left with the men in a southbound direction on the highway.
Dunstall claimed he then drove on to Pheasants Nest where he parked his truck and slept.
Dunstall’s barrister, John Stratton, SC, told jurors the defence case was a simple one: “he did not kill the deceased”.
He said some of the key witnesses in the case had criminal histories and suggested they “may have an interest, you would think, in lying”.
“Things are not always as they seem,” he said, in asking the jury to keep an open mind until they had heard all of the evidence against his client.
The trial continues.