Michael Odisho alleged to have paid witness to change story

A man shot three times in the leg following an internal gang dispute allegedly backflipped on his own evidence in court after being paid off by a well-known Sydney identity.

Michael Odisho.

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Michael Odisho allegedly paid off a shooting victim to backflip on his claims in court that he was involved in the punishment over missing cocaine, a court has heard.

Odisho is facing a jury for five weeks on two counts of perverting the course of justice with associate Ahmed Hoblos in relation to his 2016 trial that saw him convicted of orchestrating the shooting of a fellow gang member three years prior.

The court heard the man was shot three times in the leg in an act of internal gang discipline after he went on a two-day bender with cocaine he was supposed to sell for the group.

Odisho had loaded the gun and handed it to the shooter while they sat in a car together in Bass Hill.

During the original trial four years ago, the shooting victim took to the stand and backflipped on his earlier statements made to police.

“Michael has got nothing to do with nothing,” he told the court at the time.

Michael Odisho.

The Crown alleges the victim was given a sum of cash in order to change his evidence.

During the course of Monday’s hearing in the Downing Centre District Court, calls from Parklea jail intercepted by police in the weeks leading up to the original trial allegedly recorded Odisho’s associates discussing large amounts of money and referencing the date his trial was set to start.

The calls allegedly recorded the phrase: “Mickey Mouse and his mate who don’t talk to each other”, which the Crown alleges is a veiled reference to Michael Odisho and the shooting victim who used jail go-betweens to broker the deal for his testimony.

One of the men overheard on the calls, under cross examination by Crown prosecutor Sally Traynor, said he could not remember passing on the messages which are alleged to be the negotiations of how much the witness would be paid.

The man was convicted in the Local Court last year of participating in a criminal group over the messages, the jury was told, but claimed “a lot has happened in my life in those years”.

“I’ve copped a golf club to the face and had a few concussions from footy,” he said.

Hoblos is accused of falsifying an affidavit in support of Odisho when he appealed the verdict.

Hoblos’ defence barrister Michael Shaw will argue the affidavit was truthful.

The trial before Judge Peter Zahra continues.

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