Victor Codea murder trial left in limbo by lawyer’s shock announcement
The Victor Codea murder trial has been blindsided by a lawyer’s shock announcement – leaving its future in doubt.
Police & Courts
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The Victor Codea murder trial has been hit by a “wrecking ball” with one alleged murderer’s legal team saying it can no longer represent him.
On Monday, barrister Gilbert Aitken told the Supreme Court that he and his instructors could not continue acting for Thomas Nichols, 31.
Mr Aitken, who also acted for convicted NCA bomber Domenic Perre, said a “conflict of interest” had arisen over the weekend and could not be resolved.
“When I first became aware of the conflict, I rang two separate silks (King’s Counsel) to take advice... they confirmed my feelings when I explained to them, for over an hour, the particular issues,” he said.
“I cannot take it any further than that... I apologise for being the wrecking ball, it was certainly never my intention, but this is not something that can be reconciled.”
Mr Nichols, who was seated in the dock, shook his head as Mr Aitken spoke.
The future of the trial, being heard by Justice Adam Kimber and in the absence of a jury, is now in limbo.
Prosecutors have just two days of evidence left to present to the court.
Counsel for two of the other accused – Jeremy Dale Sandell, 25, and Kain Mazomenos, 26 – said the matter should proceed as soon as Mr Nichols had obtained new lawyers.
However, counsel for the fourth accused, Thomas Pinnington, 25, said he wanted to consider a potential application for a mistrial – which would see the case restart from the beginning.
The four men have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Codea in an August 2020 ambush allegedly motivated by bad online reviews of Sandell’s drug-selling operation.
Sandell has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the incident, at Adelaide High School, that was witnessed by one of Mr Codea’s friends and drug-buying clients.
The trial has also heard evidence from another of Mr Codea’s drug clients, whose identity is suppressed.
She told the court she saw negative reviews of Sandell’s online identity, “Winnie Blues”, in chats on the social media app Discord.
Those chats had titles including “dodgy people”, “dodgy c--ts” and the word “dodgy” followed by the middle finger emoji.
The woman said she and Mr Codea were both present at another dealer’s house, days prior to the murder, when Mr Mazomenos and two unknown men burst in.
Prosecutors allege that attack was also orchestrated by Sandell because he had initially believed that dealer was responsible for the bad reviews.
“Two of the men blocked the (internal) stairs while the skinny one went up and bashed (the other dealer),” she said.
“I could hear banging upstairs and (the dealer) screaming ‘no, don’t hit me’, and more banging like something hitting the wall.
“They took (the dealer’s) drugs and said ‘that comes off your bill’... I was scared, Victor was scared too.”
The woman said Sandell approached her several days later and asked “how much I would want to get” Mr Codea “out” into the open, and she refused to be involved.
On Monday, Justice Kimber permitted Mr Aitken and his team to leave the trial, and adjourned the case until Wednesday to determine its future.
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