Matthew Spinks guilty of fatal shooting of Unanderra man Nathan Costello

A fatal shooting in a suburban street  was born out of revenge after a man was shot in a Unanderra driveway on February 14 three years ago.

Nathan Costello was shot on February 14, 2018. Picture: Facebook

A fatal Valentine’s Day shooting on a quiet Illawarra street was sparked by revenge, following a home invasion just nine days prior, a jury has heard.

An Illawarra man has been found guilty of murder following a fatal Valentine’s Day shooting on a quiet suburban street.  

Matthew Spinks, 35, was found guilty by a jury in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, after he fired two shots at 33-year-old Nathan Costello, leaving him dead on a Unanderra street in the early hours of February 14, 2018.

Spinks was arrested some months after the shooting, after initially lying to police about his involvement. 

Police on scene at Carr Parade, Unanderra, after the 2018 shooting. Picture: 9 News Illawarra

The jury came to a majority verdict around midday on February 19, after telling Justice Peter Hamil they could not come to a unanimous decision. However, they returned to court with a majority verdict just 10-minutes later. 

The key issue in the trial was not whether the shooting happened, but whether killing Mr Costello was intentional. On the first day of trial, the jury heard Spinks had tried to plead guilty to manslaughter, however it was rejected by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

During the almost three-week trial, Crown prosecutor Dave Scully told the jury Mr Costello and Spinks were once friends, before they had a falling out. 

Mr Scully told the jury that just nine days before Mr Costello was killed, he’d armed himself with a knife and approached Spinks’ at his Koonawarra home and threatened him, prompting Spinks to make several panicked calls to triple-O.

Nathan Costello’s car at the scene of the shooting. Picture: 9 News Illawarra

The court heard Mr Costello suffered shotgun pellet wounds to much of his body, including his face and neck, after Spinks allegedly shot him while he sat on a grass verge outside 3 Carr Parade just after 2am on February 14.

It was the Crown case Mr Costello was visiting a friend at Carr Parade, who was doing work to his car. 

The jury found that as Mr Costello sat behind the car on the verge, Spinks approached in a black Mercedes SUV, firing two shots from a 12-gauge shotgun, one of which exploded through the back windows of the Holden, before hitting Mr Costello.

“The pellets from one shot hit the deceased in the neck, chest, face and shoulder and he died at the scene,” Mr Scully said during the trial. 

“Between [Mr Costello] and the shotgun was his car, but the car provided no protection.” 

The jury heard Mr Spinks then sped off, dumping the Mercedes in a nearby park and setting it alight, before taking off in a getaway vehicle he’d planted nearby.

After the guilty verdict on Friday, Spinks was returned to custody, where he will remain until he is sentenced at a later date.