Christopher Warren Arthur Frank: Committal hearing in Ipswich court told of strange incidents of people turning up at a house selling drugs

Christopher Frank is charged with the murder of Troy Bellingham, who was shot dead at a Lockyer Valley property last year. New details have now emerged in court.

Police roadblock on Markai Road in Lockyer Waters on March 14, 2020. Picture: Dominic Elsome

A surprise claim by shooting victim Troy Bellingham that he was ‘a police informer’ has surfaced in details put before a committal court hearing of tradie Christopher Frank, who is accused of his murder.

Witness Justin Lee told an Ipswich court that he has suffered serious mental health issues since witnessing the incident at a Lockyer Valley property while staying there.

Clad in a dark suit and seated in the dock, Christopher Warren Arthur Frank, 35, from Laidley, listened quietly as his defence lawyer Adam Guest cross-examined a series of witnesses on Thursday and Friday about the death of Mr Bellingham.

Frank, a refrigeration mechanic, is charged with the murder of Troy Bellingham, 40, at a Lockyer Waters property in March last year.

Much of the focus of the questioning was Justin Dennis Lee, who the court heard witnessed a shooting that night at the rural property on Markai Road.

Mr Lee alleged in evidence that Mr Bellingham told him he was a police informer.

It was Mr Lee, an admitted former heavy meth user who called triple-0 at 12.15am on the Saturday after first going to the home of a friend soon after the incident, the court heard.

Mr Lee, who appeared by video-link, was warned by magistrate Dennis Kinsella of legal implications of evidence that may be potentially be self-incriminating.

It was recommended he receive legal advice but he chose to continue with evidence.

Mr Lee said he’d stopped smoking meth since the shooting but at the time “I was smoking one gram, two grams a day”.

He said it was very likely he smoked the drug within an hour of arriving at the property where Mr Bellingham later died.

Mr Lee said he stopped methamphetamine use when Covid-19 hit as it made it very hard to get drugs.

“In July I spent a month in a mental health ward. I self-admitted myself,” Mr Lee said.

“It was in effect from witnessing this. I was put on antidepressants and told to get on with my life.”

In cross examination by Mr Guest, Mr Lee said he recalled doing a walk-through of the crime scene with a police officer.

“What were the strange things?” Mr Guest asked.

“A lot to do with being meth’d up and paranoid,” Mr Lee said.

“There were strange things. People rocking up at the door trying to sell me drugs.

“I thought it strange they would give me keys to the house. I barely knew the bloke.

“Troy was acting very strange. I told him he was a sex pest and to leave my (then) girlfriend alone.”

Mr Lee said that on the evening he was affected by methamphetamine, marijuana and Zanox.

He said he used Facebook Messenger to contact people and probably contacted Frank about what Mr Bellingham told him.

“Anyone familiar with meth users (know) meth-head messages are just a jumble of shit,” he said.

“I think they were paranoid messages saying ‘f**k what we going to do this dude is an informant?’”

Mr Lee said he had not deleted the messages afterwards.

He said he used Messenger as “I simply don’t like making phone calls”.

“Were you surprised he (Frank) turned up at Troy’s (house)?,” Mr Guest said.

“Bloody oath I was,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee’s evidence was then put on hold with the court remaining concerned about the legal aspect of privilege and potential self-incrimination.

A process was put in place for Mr Lee to receive legal representation and for him to resume evidence the next day.

Other witnesses were then briefly cross-examined on some aspects of the case.

Dalton Poole told the court that in a conversation with Frank, he had been told that Mr Lee had said to him (Frank) that Mr Bellingham said he was an informant.

“He said something like, ‘saying shit like that will get you a bullet’,” Mr Poole said.

“I kinda laughed about Troy being an informant.

“Chris was saying he didn’t want to see Troy.”

Asked by Mr Guest if it was his view that Troy was not smart enough to be an informant and that in his statement he’d gone on to say he was “just talking shit,” Mr Poole said “Yep. Boys are boys just talking shit”.

“I didn’t understand why someone would be so cranky about someone being an informant,” Mr Poole said.

In evidence Sergeant Ian Bruce said he examined an Anschutz 1451 rifle and found it had an unusual trigger mechanism and would fire if the trigger was pushed forward

It also fired when an object was dropped on it, or if given a hard slap with an open hand to the side.

A safety device was missing.

Another witness, Nicole Taylor, appeared by phone.

She said she had contacted Crime Stoppers in February 2020 after being told that Mr Bellingham had gone to a friend’s house with a gun.

“(Her friend) told me he was angry and for Troy not to come to the house with a gun again,” Ms Taylor said.

She said that the day after they found out about his death she and others had been with Mr Bellingham’s family and there was mention of a photo being seen of a gun.

“I think his mother told Troy to get rid of the gun. That she didn’t want it in the house,” Ms Taylor said.

Magistrate Dennis Kinsella was informed at 1.30pm on Friday that Mr Lee had still not been able to received legal representation.

Mr Kinsella adjourned his evidence part-heard with the committal hearing to resume next month.