Jurors have heard how Matthew Spinks lied to police in the days after he shot his friend Nathan Costello in Unandarra, during the second week of his murder trial.
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Matthew Spinks, 35, is fighting allegations he intentionally killed Nathan Costello, 33, on February 14, 2018 when he fired two shotgun bullets from a black Mercedes SUV, through Costello's parked car in the early hours of the morning.
The jury in the Wollongong Supreme Court murder trial heard, in an agreed set of facts, that Spinks admitted to shooting Costello while he was standing on the verge outside his friend's Carr Parade home. Spinks claims he did not intend to kill Costello.
The Crown alleges Spinks deliberately shot Costello in "revenge" after he went to Spinks' Koonawarra home on February 5, 2018, threatened him, armed with a knife.
Mr Costello was schizophrenic and paranoid Spinks was having an affair with his partner Melanie Hazell.
The police search warrant video conducted at Spinks' house on February 16 was played to the court on Monday.
He told police he walked to the 7-Eleven service station before 2am on February 14 and went to the Shellharbour Club about 4am to play the pokies with a friend called "Robbo".
When a detective asked him where he was between 2am and 4am he told them he was at his home alone.
Spinks told police he had been friends with Mr Costello for 15 years.
"He is not all there, you know what I mean. He is a bit of a spinner. Sometimes he is good, sometimes he is not," Spinks said.
"What is your relationship with her (Melanie Hazell), have you ever been romantic? the detective asked.
"No. That is what Nathan was thinking himself," Spinks said.
"Has he made threats towards you?" the detective asked.
"Nah, nah. Just little things. We do this, we go through stages of arguing, we don't talk, then we talk," Spinks replied.
"How do feel about news of him being murdered?" the detective asked.
"Pretty bad, its bad," Spinks replied.
"And you had nothing to do with it?" the detective asked. "No," Spinks replied.
Meantime, Costello's partner Melanie Hazell was cross examined by Spinks defence barrister Janet Manuell SC on Monday morning.
Ms Hazell told the court her partner was smoking ice around the time of his death and if his missed getting his medication via injections for his schizophrenia condition he would become paranoid and hear voices, often accusing her of infidelity.
She said he would act in a similar way with his mates, who knowing about his mental health condition, would often "brush it off".
Ms Hazell told the court Costello had told her that the falling about between him and Spinks "was nothing" and "it would be good" once they talked.
"Nath goes, 'I still got love for him'," she said.
In her evidence in chief on Thursday, Ms Hazell said Mr Costello and Mr Blow, who was fixing the bumper bar of Mr Costello's car, spotted a black four-wheel-drive in the area about four times.
She said she was sitting in the passenger seat of Mr Costello's vehicle, while he and Mr Blow stood beside the vehicle on the grass, when she heard a bang from the direction of nearby Albert Street.
The four-wheel-drive came around the corner, Ms Hazell said, pulled up alongside Mr Costello's car, "then there was a bang, a little break, and then another two".
She told the court the vehicle's headlights were off, the sun visors were down, and she could not see the person or people inside.
On Monday, Ms Manuel asked if Ms Hazell if she was "frightened" or "scared" after hearing the first gunshot in the car.
"Yeah I didn't know, I still hadn't registered what happened, it was like being in a movie or something," she said..
Ms Manuel asked Ms Hazell to recall where exactly where Mr Costello was standing immediately before he was shot, how she was looking at the SUV, how fast the car was moving and how far apart the gunshots were.
Ms Manuell noted it was dark and all unfolded in the space of about 15 seconds, however assumed Ms Hazell had thought about the sequence of events "thousands of times".
"I haven't thought about it," she said. "I've just blocked it. I didn't want to admit it happened and that Nathan was gone," Ms Hazell said.
The trial continues.
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