Roger Rogerson guilty: Timeline of how Jamie Gao was murdered
THE case against Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara made extensive use of CCTV, including tracking the accused pair almost minute by minute.This is how the murder of Jamie Gao was carried out.
NSW
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February 24, 2014 — Roger Rogerson moves furniture into shed 803 at Rent A Space, Padstow, after his friend Michael Maguire (now deceased) leased the storage unit a few days earlier.
April 2, 2014 — A silver Ford station wagon, similar to Rogerson’s car, is seen near the site.
April 4, 2014 — A blue station wagon, registered to Glen McNamara, is seen near the entrance of Rent A Space.
April 27, 2014 — A white Ford Falcon station wagon is purchased from Outback Used Cars, Lethbridge Park in the name ‘Marvyn Turnbull.’ The receipt for the car was later found during a search of McNamara’s Cronulla apartment. It had a fingerprint matching Rogerson’s on it.
Police inquiries into finding Mr Turnbull have led them to believe “no such person, in fact, exists.” McNamara said in evidence that he was planning to use the car to take rubbish to the tip. Rogerson claimed he had no knowledge or involvement in procuring it.
May 19, 2014 — the day before the shooting:
10am — McNamara removes his boat from a storage facility in Taren Point, in Sydney’s south, without telling staff he is taking it from the premises.
1:20pm — McNamara is seen towing the boat into the carpark of his Cronulla apartment block.
3:15pm — Rogerson visits the storage space and parks outside unit 803. He removes some of the office furniture that is inside and places it in the rear of his car.
7:59pm — McNamara and Gao are captured on CCTV having a meeting at the Meridian Hotel, Hurstville. The pair arrive and leave the hotel separately.
May 20 —The day of Jamie Gao’s murder:
Records show phone calls between McNamara and Rogerson.
11:37am — McNamara is seen on CCTV calling Gao from a payphone in the Cronulla Mall area. A short time later, Gao sends him a text asking McNamara if he would like to have lunch. McNamara replies that he has food poisoning and won’t be able to leave his bathroom. Gao replies to say that is fine, and he will instead study and spent time with his girlfriend.
Prosecutors alleged this was a code to confirm the drug deal was on, and to potentially create alibis for themselves.
12:04pm — The white Falcon is seen driving into the carpark at McNamara’s Cronulla apartment.
12:11pm — The white Falcon is driven away from the apartment. Prosecutors say this is the first time the car is seen leaving the building. It is this car that is used to remove Gao’s body from the storage site.
1:15pm — Rogerson drives his station wagon into Rent A Space, with McNamara also in the car.
1:15-1:25pm — The pair spend ten minutes inside the unit, which has no electricity. The pair are seen testing the roller door of the unit, McNamara on the outside and Rogerson on the inside.
1:33pm — The white Falcon leaves the storage unit and is seen driving on Arab Rd. Moments later, a silver Falcon is seeing performing a U-turn outside Mick’s Meats. The silver car then parks.
1:35pm — Jamie Gao arrives in a white Nissan, with two other men in the car, on Arab Rd.
1:39pm — The silver car is seen to make way for the Nissan to reverse into a space outside Mick’s Meats. Jamie Gao gets out of the car and heads for the silver car.
1:45pm — McNamara and Gao enter the storage unit.
1:47pm — Rogerson arrives at the storage facility through the back entrance. Two minutes later, he enters the unit.
1:58pm — Rogerson leaves the unit, gets the white car and parks it outside the unit. The Crown allege Jamie Gao has already been shot by this point.
2:18pm — The body of Jamie Gao, inside the silver surfboard cover, is placed into the back of the white station wagon.
2:22pm — The white Falcon leaves Rent A Space.
3:03pm — The car is seen arriving at the Cronulla apartment.
3:51pm — The white station wagon leaves the Cronulla apartment block.
4:20pm — The pair are seen on CCTV at Kennard’s Storage, buying a two tonne chain block. The Crown allege this was used to dump Jamie Gao’s body out at sea, 2.5km from Shelly Beach in Cronulla.
5:12pm — The white Falcon returns to the Cronulla apartment’s carpark.
6:24pm — Rogerson and McNamara are seen in the lift going up from the basement carpark to McNamara’s apartment, cradling a six pack of James Boags beer.
May 21, 2014
7:08am — Glen McNamara seen in the lift of the apartments.
7:28am — McNamara’s blue Falcon is seen driving out of the carpark, towing the boat with the tarpaulin visible.
7:32am — Rogerson and McNamara enter the apartment lift, carrying fishing rods. Prosecutors allege they removed them from the boat before taking the body out to be dumped. McNamara said the pair drove to nearby Grays Point, that he accompanied Rogerson on the boat to dispose of the body, and that on their way back the former police officer fired two shots and warned his friend not to go to the police. Rogerson’s evidence was that he offered to help McNamara get rid of Gao’s body but only assisted in transporting him by car from McNamara’s Cronulla apartment to the wharf, and that he then waited for more than an hour for his friend to return to shore. Later that day, the boat is returned to the storage facility.
May 25, 2014 — Glen McNamara is arrested after the drugs are seized from the White Falcon, and charged with murder and drug supply. Rogerson, who flew to Queensland the weekend after Gao’s death, makes his way back to Sydney.
May 26, 2014 — Gao’s body, still wrapped in blue tarpaulin and zipped inside the silver surfboard cover, is found floating by fishermen more than 2km off a Cronulla beach.
May 27, 2014 — Rogerson is arrested at his Padstow Heights home and taken into custody by detectives in front of a waiting media pack.
July 26, 2015 — The first trial begins, with Crown prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC telling the jury that Jamie Gao was shot dead upon entering the shed to take part in a drug deal he believed was going to make him very rich. Mr Maxwell tells the jury they do not have to determine exactly which one of the men was the shooter, as they are being tried under a joint criminal enterprise.
July 27, 2015 — The jury is discharged following an opening address by McNamara’s then barrister Charles Watersteet. The trial is adjourned until the following year for McNamara to find new lawyers.
February 2, 2016 — The retrial begins in the NSW Supreme Court.
April 4, 2016 — The trial is almost derailed when Glen McNamara, on the eve of his expected entry into the witness box, sacks his lawyers, telling Justice Bellew he has done so on the basis of independent legal advice. The jury is sent home for the week to give McNamara a chance to find new lawyers. In a surprise twist, Charles Waterstreet returns to briefly appear for McNamara in an application to discharge the jury, and allow him to find new counsel for a new trial. Justice Bellew dismisses this and gives McNamara a few more days to find new lawyers. Gabriel Wendler is installed as McNamara’s new barrister.
April 14, 2016 — Glen McNamara takes the witness stand to tell the jury that Rogerson shot Jamie Gao while “seething with anger” over the handover of drugs and cash. McNamara said he hid under a table while Rogerson shot Gao, and claimed the 75-year-old then threatened him, telling him that if he didn’t help get rid of Gao’s body: “I’ll kill your lovely girls.”
May 6, 2016 — Roger Rogerson begins giving evidence, and tells the jury that when he entered the storage unit Jamie Gao was already dead on the floor. Rogerson says that McNamara told him that Gao had wanted to kill him, and that the pair had engaged in a “real struggle” for the gun, during which it went off twice and struck Gao. Rogerson adds that McNamara further warned him that if they didn’t get out of the area quickly, “this place will be swarming with Chinese assassins.”.
The former detective tells the jury he offered to help McNamara because he believed his story that Gao had tried to kill him, and considered him “a very good friend of mine”.
May 16, 2016 — The evidence in the case concludes ahead of closing addresses by the Crown, the counsel for Rogerson and McNamara and Justice Bellew.
June 15, 2016 - Jury finds Rogerson and McNamara guilty of murder.
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