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| Jamie Gao |
DISGRACED detective Roger Rogerson
claims he entered the storage unit where drug dealer Jamie Gao was shot
dead merely to dispense “fatherly advice”, a court has heard.
During a failed bail application for the 73-year-old yesterday,
Central Local Court was told of conversations between Rogerson and his
wife Anne that had been recorded while he is on remand at Silverwater
prison.
Rogerson and his co-accused, fellow former police officer
Glen McNamara, are charged with shooting Gao dead on May 20 this year,
in an execution-style murder over a botched drug deal involving almost
3kg of ice.
Jamie Gao, 20, was murdered and his body dumped at sea.
In the recorded conversations, captured after Rogerson had
been behind bars for a few weeks, he tells his wife that he believed
McNamara and Gao had been in the storage unit for more than 10 minutes
when he entered and he thought his friend may be having troubles with
the young drug dealer.
“They’d been in there a fair while, I
thought I’d go over and see what’s happening,” he told Anne Rogerson in
the recorded conversation on June 24. ‘‘I thought I might be able to
give him a bit of fatherly advice.”
McNamara was also refused
bail earlier this month, and the applications of both men have seen the
court play CCTV footage, including images of the pair dragging
something from the Padstow storage unit.
Gao’s body was found in
the sea off Cronulla Beach several days after he was last seen going
inside the storage space which had no lighting or electricity.
Rogerson, who offered a $1.5 million surety for his conditional freedom, watched the proceedings on the court videolink and took notes during submissions of Crown Prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC and his counsel George Thomas.
The court heard Rogerson told his wife “things change ... we can do things” when discussing his prospective release on bail, with a Supreme Court trial likely to be at least 18 months away.
Mr Thomas claimed it is a “weak prosecution case” and that “there was enough time for a killing to take place in the absence of my client”.
He also said, while conceding Rogerson “assisted” in the removal of Gao’s body from the storage space, it hadn’t been ruled out by police that the murdered man could have pulled the gun first, leading McNamara to act in self defence.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt said it was a “strong” prosecution case, “underpinned” by CCTV footage, and that the “unacceptable risk” posed by Rogerson couldn’t be mitigated by the strict conditions offered, which would have placed him virtually under house arrest.
Rogerson, who offered a $1.5 million surety for his conditional freedom, watched the proceedings on the court videolink and took notes during submissions of Crown Prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC and his counsel George Thomas.
The court heard Rogerson told his wife “things change ... we can do things” when discussing his prospective release on bail, with a Supreme Court trial likely to be at least 18 months away.
Mr Thomas claimed it is a “weak prosecution case” and that “there was enough time for a killing to take place in the absence of my client”.
He also said, while conceding Rogerson “assisted” in the removal of Gao’s body from the storage space, it hadn’t been ruled out by police that the murdered man could have pulled the gun first, leading McNamara to act in self defence.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt said it was a “strong” prosecution case, “underpinned” by CCTV footage, and that the “unacceptable risk” posed by Rogerson couldn’t be mitigated by the strict conditions offered, which would have placed him virtually under house arrest.
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