Operation Ironside murder plot accused was just ‘bending over’ near loaded weapon, court told

The alleged shooter in a murder plot discovered by Operation Ironside was merely “bending over” in the spot police found a loaded revolver, a court has heard.

The alleged shooter in a foiled murder plot was just “bending over” near a bush where police found a loaded revolver and had no role in any alleged murder conspiracy, a court has heard.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, sought release on home detention bail in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.

A prosecutor told the court the 51-year-old southwestern-suburbs man was a “Johnny come lately ring-in” who was tasked to shoot the intended victim in a second attempt on his life at Rosslyn Park.

“He was literally caught casing out the intended address and … he had stashed the loaded revolver in the nearby bushes around the corner,” the prosecutor said.

“He wasn’t just in the wrong place at the wrong time after 11 o’clock at night stashing a loaded revolver in the nearby bushes of the intended target address,” the prosecutor said.

Police raids in connection with Operation Ironside.

In an earlier bail hearing for the man, the court was told the intended victim owed a significant debt to the Comanchero bikie gang and that members of the group had plotted to “recover the debt along with murdering the victim”.

The man is yet to plead to a charge of conspiracy to murder.

On Monday, the court heard police foiled two alleged attempts to carry out the plot within days of each other in May, and the man seeking bail was involved in the second attempt.

Tim Clarke, for the man, said allegations his client was to be the shooter was “entirely speculative”, and that the man was seen merely “bending over” in the spot where police later found an loaded revolver.

“There is, so far as I can identify currently, no material at all that supports that submission beyond my client’s arrest in the local area,” he said.

“I don’t think it can be said he put (the gun) there.”

He said his client had no contact with the encrypted AN0M platform which was being secretly monitored by police and there was “no evidence” his client knew of the nature of the conspiracy.

Magistrate John Wells refused the man bail due to the seriousness of the alleged offending and the risk of interfering with the ongoing investigation. The man returns to court in February.