Roger Rogerson tells court he entered storage unit to dispense ‘fatherly advice’ to Jamie Gao

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 wanted to give 'fatherly advice'

FORMER NSW detective Roger Rogerson allegedly told his wife that he only went into the Sydney storage unit where Jamie Gao was fatally shot to give some "fatherly advice".

WHEN he emerged minutes later carrying the 20-year-old's body, he was helping his fellow ex-policeman Glen McNamara, who he thought had acted in self-defence, a court has heard.

The claims were aired on Monday as Rogerson made an unsuccessful bid for bail, which included a $1.5 million security, at Central Local Court.

Rogerson is charged with murder and drug supply.

In opposing his application, Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC played CCTV footage to the court, which he said demonstrated how Rogerson was part of a synchronised operation with Glen McNamara to carry out the "execution-style murder" of Gao on May 20.

The end game was to steal 2.8 kilograms of the drug ice from the student, he said.

The crown says CCTV footage of that day shows McNamara entering the dark Padstow storage unit in Sydney's south-west with Gao before Rogerson goes in three to four minutes later.

Eventually the two emerge with Gao's body in a surfboard bag and load it into a station wagon.

A week later Gao's body was found bobbing about three kilometres off Cronulla beach and 2.8 kilograms of ice was discovered in the back footwell of McNamara's car, police allege.

After Rogerson's arrest for murder and commercial drug supply, the crown says the 73-year-old was recorded talking to his wife Anne from prison.

He allegedly told her he had only entered the storage unit to see "what was happening" and give a bit of "fatherly advice" to the former detective.

McNamara has also been charged with murder and commercial drug supply. With CCTV cameras at the site, Rogerson opined it was the "last place in the bloody world" you would commit a crime.

In heated submissions put to the court, Rogerson's barrister George Thomas said his client had only gone to the storage unit to offer help to McNamara who allegedly feared Gao was connected to an organised triad crime group.

Mr Thomas said the 73-year-old only helped McNamara to dispose of Gao's body because he thought McNamara had acted in self-defence.

There was nothing that tied his client to Gao's alleged murder or the drug haul, nor any evidence about who fired the fatal shot, he argued.

But Mr Maxwell said the explanation Rogerson gave to his wife didn't hold up.

Rogerson had the access code to the storage unit and had scouted out the premises about half an hour before Gao eventually arrived.

Once the killing occurred, Mr Maxwell said Rogerson drove his car to the storage unit and popped the boot, thereby shielding them when carrying out Gao's body.

Rogerson offered $1.5 million as security but Magistrate Les Mabbutt refused him bail, saying he posed an unacceptable risk of committing an offence or fleeing.

Outside court, Mr Thomas said Rogerson will make another bid for bail at the Supreme Court.

Original source

Roger Rogerson went to kill site to 'advise colleague'

ROGER Rogerson went to the storage unit where Jamie Gao was allegedly killed to offer ­fatherly advice to fellow former detective Glen McNamara, a Sydney court heard yesterday.

After the alleged murder and Mr Rogerson’s arrest, the Central Local Court heard he had been recorded talking to his wife, Anne, on the phone.

During the conversation, Mr Rogerson said Mr McNamara and Gao had been in the storage unit for a while so he just went to see what was happening and give a bit of “old fatherly advice” to the former policeman.

Mr Rogerson was refused bail by magistrate Les Mabbutt over the 73-year-old’s alleged involvement in the murder of the 20-year-old university student, despite offering the court a surety of $1.5 million.

In opposing Mr Rogerson’s bail application, crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC played CCTV footage to the court that he said demonstrated how Mr Rogerson was part of a “synchronised operation” with Mr McNamara at Padstow in Sydney’s southwest on May 20.

He alleged the former policemen had planned the execution-style shooting murder of Gao to try to steal 2.8kg of drugs from him.

Mr Rogerson’s lawyer, George Thomas, suggested Gao may have brought the gun to the meeting and was shot during a ­struggle.

Original story

Roger Rogerson’s bail application rejected despite $1.5 million security

Source News Corp 

Roger Rogerson has been refused bail over the alleged murder of Jamie Gao. Picture Craig Greenhill Source: News Corp Australia FORMER NSW detective and accused murderer Roger Rogerson has been refused bail despite offering $1.5 million as security.

Rogerson, who appeared via audio visual link from the maximum security Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, didn’t react when the decision was handed down at Central Local Court on Monday. The crown says Rogerson was part of a “synchronised operation” with his co-accused Glen McNamara in the execution-style murder of 20-year-old Jamie Gao to rip him off of 2.8 kilograms of the drug ice.

CCTV footage played to the court shows McNamara taking Gao into a dark Padstow storage unit in Sydney’s southwest on May 20 before Rogerson arrives three to four minutes later, the crown says. The former policemen eventually emerge, lifting a surfboard bag containing Gao’s body into the back of McNamara’s car, the crown says.

A week later Gao’s body was found bobbing about three kilometres off Cronulla beach.

Meanwhile 2.8kg of “ice” had been discovered in the back footwell of McNamara’s car, police say.

In refusing him bail, Magistrate Les Mabbutt said Rogerson posed an unacceptable risk of committing an offence or fleeing and that the crown case had “merit”.

The comments came after Rogerson’s barrister George Thomas said there was nothing that tied his client to Gao’s alleged murder or the drug haul.

Rogerson had only gone to the storage unit after “representations” by McNamara that he feared Gao was connected to an organised triad crime group, he said.

“He wanted to make sure Rogerson was there to ensure he wasn’t being followed.” Mr Thomas said the 73-year-old only helped McNamara to dispose of Gao’s body because he thought the former cop had acted in self-defence.

McNamara has also been charged with murder and commercial drug supply.

Rogerson offered $1.5 million as security, which included $400,000 from a property on the Central Coast.

His matter will return to court in September.

Roger Rogerson: No bail for former Sydney policeman accused of Jamie Gao murder

ABC - By Lucy Carter

Former Sydney policeman Roger Rogerson has been refused bail in a Sydney court after a mammoth three-and-a-half-hour hearing.

The 73-year-old and his co-accused, former detective Glen McNamara, are charged with murder over the death of university student Jamie Gao in May.

Mr Gao's body was found floating in the sea off Cronulla a week after he was reported missing.

Police allege he was killed in a Padstow storage unit after a drug deal went wrong.

Rogerson appeared in Sydney's Central Local Court today via video-link to apply for bail.

In opposing his application, Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC played to the court CCTV footage from the storage unit where Mr Gao was allegedly shot dead.

Mr Maxwell said the footage shows Rogerson taking "an active role" in the proceedings, describing the murder as a synchronised operation that Rogerson was "very much a part of".

He said there is a very strong case against the 73-year-old on both the murder and drug charges and that he will die in jail if convicted of either.

Rogerson's barrister George Thomas disputed that the prosecution had a "very strong" case.

He told the court the case against his client is built upon "speculation" and "weak circumstantial evidence".

He claimed his client was outside the Padstow storage unit when Mr Gao was shot dead and that no-one knows what happened inside except Rogerson and McNamara.

He raised the possibility that Mr Gao brought the gun to the drug deal and that the 20-year-old was killed in self defence.

Former detective Glen McNamara is also charged with Gao's murder.

He was refused bail earlier this month.

Rogerson makes bail application

Former detective Roger Rogerson intended to give some advice when he entered the Sydney storage unit where Jamie Gao was allegedly murdered, a court has heard. Source SBS 25 Aug 2014 - 12:26 PM

Former NSW detective Roger Rogerson told his wife that he went into a storage unit where Jamie Gao was allegedly murdered just to give some "old fatherly advice", a court has heard.

Rogerson, dressed in prison greens, appeared at Central Local Court on Monday via audio visual link from Sydney's maximum security Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC) to make a bid for bail.

In opposing his application, crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC played CCTV footage to the court, that he said demonstrated how Rogerson was part of a "synchronised operation" with his co-accused Glen McNamara.

He alledged the former policemen had planned the execution-style shooting murder of the 20-year-old Gao to try to rip him off of 2.8 kilograms of drugs.

Photo: Dallas Kilponen - Chris Maxwell QC -

McNamara can be seen taking Gao into the dark Padstow storage unit in Sydney's southwest on May 20 before Rogerson arrives three to four minutes later, he said.


The former cops eventually emerge, lifting a surfboard bag into the back of McNamara's car.

Gao's body was found bobbing about three kilometres off Cronulla beach a week later while 2.8 kilograms of "ice" was also discovered in the back footwell of McNamara's car, police say.

After the alleged murder and Rogerson's arrest, the court heard the 73-year-old had been recorded talking to his wife Anne on the phone.

During the conversation Rogerson said McNamara and Gao had been in the storage unit for a while so he just went to see what was happening and give a bit of "old fatherly advice" to the former cop.

Mr Maxwell said that explanation to his wife "didn't hold up".

If released, he warned Rogerson, who is charged with murder and drug supply, would pose a flight risk and had the ability to pervert the course of justice.

"If convicted of either of these charges he would expect to spend the rest of his life in jail," Mr Maxwell said.

Rogerson's barrister George Thomas said the crown case against his client was weak.

In a heated address to the court he said the crown didn't know who fired the fatal shot or whether Gao himself had brought the gun to the storage unit.
The hearing continues.

Rogerson, McNamara 'grandfatherly advice'

'I thought I might be able to give him some grandfatherly advice': Former detective Roger Rogerson's excuse for entering a storage unit where Jamie Gao was murdered

• A court has heard CCTV footage shows murdered student Jamie Gao being dragged to a car
• Crown Prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC said former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara both looked to be lifting the body
• Men charged with murder of Gao, who was found wrapped in a tarp off Sydney beach on May 26
• A prison phone call between Rogerson and his wife suggested he would argue he only intervened in what happened between Gao and McNamara
• Rogerson and McNamara have also been accused of commercial drug supply

By Candace Sutton for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 13:01 AEST, 25 August 2014 

Glen McNamara former NSW Police Officer, author 

Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glenn McNamara can be seen dragging the dead body of Jamie Gao on his back to a car minutes after they murdered him, CCTV footage shown by Crown Prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC in Central Local Court contends.

In the footage, Rogerson and McNamara can be seen taking what appears to be a heavy object wrapped in a bag from the Rent-a-Space storage unit in the south-western Sydney suburb of Padstow at around 2pm on May 20 this year.

'The body's dragged on its back,' Mr Maxwell said, describing the footage as it was played to the court.

'Both appear to take part in the lifting of the body.'

Mr Maxwell showed dramatic scenes captured on security footage in what he says was an organised plan from the start to murder 20-year-old Mr Gao in the storage unit.

A court has heard that Roger Rogerson went to the storage unit where student Jamie Gao was allegedly murdered to see why he and Glen McNamara, pictured, had been in there so long

In pleading the Crown case  to oppose a bail application by Mr Rogerson, who appeared in the court via audio visual link from Silverwater remand prison in western Sydney, Mr Maxwell said Rogerson 'had control and access to the scene of the killing'.

Mr Maxwell said a prison phone call between Rogerson and his wife, Anne Melocco, since his arrest suggested Rogerson would be arguing that he had only intervened in whatever had happened between Jamie Gao and McNamara in the storage unit after the shooting to give some 'grandfatherly advice'

He said Rogerson told Ms Melocco 'well they'd been there a fair while Anne. I thought I'd go over there and see what's happening.

'I thought i might be able to give a bit of a hand, a bit of old grandfatherly advice.'

Rogerson, dressed in prison greens, sat shuffling papers and reading notes in the prison during the evidence.

In part of the footage - which shows McNamara and Gao enter together the door of one on a row of cream coloured storage units, later followed by Rogerson - the three men are inside the unit for nine minutes.

Following this, McNamara can be seen taking a surfboard bag into the unit.

Rogerson - who appears to hobble or limp each time he moves on foot - emerges to move his vehicle.

'Mr Rogerson ... brings his car over to shield them bringing the dead body out,' Mr Maxwell said, showing footage of Rogerson parking his car behind Mc Namara's outside the unit.

Back of storage facility

Rogerson, 73,  and Glenn McNamara, 55, are charged with murdering of university student Mr Gao, whose body was found wrapped in a tarpaulin floating in the sea of Cronulla in southern Sydney on May 26, a week after he was reported missing.

Police allege the University of Technology Sydney student was shot in a storage facility by McNamara and Rogerson during a botched drug deal involving 3kg of methylamphetamine on May 20.

The application was before Magistrate Les Mabbutt.

Barrister George Thomas, for Rogerson,  suggested a struggle between McNamara and Mr Gao might have ensued before Rogerson entered the storage facility.

He said there was between three and four minutes that the two were in there, 'enough time for a killing to take place'.

On August 8, Magistrate Mabbutt refused a bail application by McNamara, who offered $580,000 in a surety to be effectively 'under house arrest'.

Jamie Gao was already dead and on the floor following a struggle with a firearm by the time Roger Rogerson entered a storage unit on May 20, Rogerson's barrister told Central Local Court.

George Thomas said Rogerson had been called to the scene of a proposed 'ice' drug deal between Mr Gao and former detective Glenn Mc Namara to deal with alleged triad associates.

CCTV footage shows Mr Gao arriving at the Padstow storage unit with two young Asian men.

In submissions to the court distancing Rogerson from both the drug deal and what he described as the 'unintended' killing 'in self defence' of Mr Gao by McNamara, Mr Thomas said Rogerson had made no attempt to conceal his activities on the day.

He said Rogerson's presence at the scene 'related to McNamara's concerns Jamie Gao had associations with people said to be triad related. McNamara wanted to be sure he wasn't being followed'.

He said in the three to four minutes McNamara was with Mr Gao inside the storage unit - which was dark and had no light - there was a struggle involving a pistol which may have been carried by Mr Gao.

He said on entering the storage unit, 'a man was already on the ground, deceased' and McNamara told Rogerson there had been a struggle.

Mr Thomas said Mr Gao's two bullet wounds - one of which was '150mm down from the nipple' and both of which showed had been made in a ' downward trajectory' - could not have been made by Rogerson who was shorter than Mr Gao.

He said Rogerson had helped to remove Mr Gao's body from the unit, but had not been involved in the dumping at sea by Mc Namara.

Last month the case was facing some delays as fingerprints, DNA evidence and CCTV footage were still being compiled in the murder case against former NSW detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara, a court heard.

They have also been accused of commercial drug supply.

Lawyer Paul Kenny, for Rogerson, 73, did not require him to be videoed in from Silverwater Correctional Centre in July, while McNamara, 55, is in Goulburn prison.

Police prosecutors told the court more time was needed to assemble some of the scientific evidence in the case, and there were significant delays in autopsy reports on the victim.

Central Local Court heard that up to five weeks was needed to assemble fingerprint evidence from the crime scene and DNA testing of clothing.

Evidence to be presented in the case included analysis of methylamphetamines allegedly found in McNamara's car.

However, although a postmortem had been completed on Mr Gao, there was a six-to-nine-month delay at the Sydney morgue on the autopsy report.

Police allege the University of Technology Sydney student was shot in a storage facility by McNamara and Rogerson during a botched drug deal on May 20.

McNamara was charged and faced Kogarah Local Court on May 26. Rogerson was arrested amid a media frenzy outside his home in the western Sydney suburb of Padstow the following day.