Dad shot dead as he gave chase after shotgun blast into son’s room

A shotgun blast into a wall inches from where his young son slept was why an Ipswich father chased four men from his home to a car where he was fatally shot, a court has heard.

Christopher Anderson was shot outside his home.

A shotgun blast into a wall inches from where his two-year-old son slept of a night was why an Ipswich father chased four men from his home to a car where he was fatally shot, a court has heard.

But alleged gunman Larkin Moffatt has pleaded not guilty to murdering Chris Anderson, with his barrister raising the prospect of self-defence at the outset of the trial in Brisbane’s Supreme Court.

On the afternoon of July 10 2021 Mr Anderson was sitting on the front patio of his Gailes home with no idea “that within half an hour he would be shot dead by Mr Moffatt”.

“Mr Moffat shot him once in the centre of the chest, here” Crown prosecutor Greg Cummings, pointing to his own chest, said on Thursday in his opening address.

“It was at close range, probably within arm’s length, and the gun used .22 caliber long ammunition.

“The bullet went through Mr Anderson’s heart, tore up tissue before coming to a stop after striking and fracturing the sixth rib on the right side.”

CCTV played to the jury showed the moment Moffat, his brother Markiss Moffatt-Cleary, Aidan Eden Pascoe and Shaun Jason Birt first approached Mr Anderson outside his home.

Their reason for being there had nothing to do with the alleged victim, it was to do with his partner Felicity Torrens, Mr Cummings said.

A few days before Ms Torrens had indirectly supplied Birt some drugs which he decided were short in weight, the court head.

Birt eventually decided to head to the Gailes home with the other men, including the defendant, to “collect what was owed” either money or drugs, Mr Cummings said.

“The way it was put was they would take it,” he claimed.

After being approached by the men Mr Anderson went inside to speak to Ms Torrens during which time the men forced their way into the home, the court heard.

Inside the home Pascoe, who was armed with a shortened .410 shotgun, fired at a wall, the court heard.

Mr Cummings said Mr Anderson chased the four men out of his home “fuelled by outrage”.

“Outrage because (Pascoe) …. fired a shotgun in the lounge room blowing a hole in the loungeroom wall,” he said.

“On the other side of that wall, precisely where that hole was blown into the loungeroom wall, was young Christopher’s bedroom, his son aged 18 months.”

He said the hole was located at the head of where his bed was.

Fortunately the child was not in the room at the time but Mr Cummings invited the jury to infer that’s why Mr Anderson chased them.

“Even though he was outnumbered, even though one of them still had a shotgun, even though one of them was armed with a baseball bat, and even though Mr Moffat either had the gun that he used to shoot Mr Anderson or fired it in the car that’s why he chased them,” he said.

On the way Mr Anderson picked up a shovel which he used to hit the men and the Commodore they piled into.

Mr Cummings alleged it was at this point Moffatt shot Mr Anderson with a gun he had apparently told Pascoe he was leaving in the car.

He said Pascoe would tell the jury he heard a shot fired.

“He will tell you that he saw Mr Moffatt in that front passenger seat with the gun down cradled in his lap pointing at Mr Anderson,” Mr Cummings said.

The court heard Mr Anderson returned to his home where he soon collapsed.

“From that moment, Mr Anderson had about 10 minutes to live, and no power on earth was going to save his life. The bullet punctured his heart in two places,” Mr Cummings said.

Barrister Victoria Trafford-Walker, whose client also pleaded not guilty to enter dwelling with intent whilst armed in company, urged the jury to listen closely to the evidence because “there’s a deeper story to tell”.

“There is a very, very different story to be heard with alternate conclusions to draw from that evidence,” she said.

“One of the things you will have to consider very carefully is that if you in fact find that Mr Moffat killed Mr Anderson, was the killing in fact unlawful?

“That is, do defences such as self defence or self defence in aid of another come into play here.

“I would ask you to consider carefully each account you’re given and what it tells you about whether Mr Moffat acted in self defence, or self defence in aid of another against Mr Anderson.”

Ms Trafford-Walker also asked the jury to consider whether her client entered the Old Logan Rd home with an intention to commit a steal or assault.

“Or was he simply there to help a mate collect a debt owed,” she said.

The trial continues before Justice Lincoln Crowley on Friday with Ms Torrens giving evidence.