Jury find Daniel Paul Bell ‘not guilty’ on all counts of shooting a man in the butt in 2017
It took less than 24 hours for a jury to find Daniel Paul Bell not guilty on all counts of shooting a man in the butt at Muswellbrook during a drug buy in 2017.
Newcastle
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It took less than 24 hours for a jury to find Daniel Paul Bell, 40, not guilty on all counts of shooting a man in the butt at Muswellbrook during a drug buy in 2017.
Outside Newcastle District Court on Thursday Bell’s solicitor Paolo Remati said his client was looking forward to getting on with his life.
“Anything that affects the community, drugs or violence, is a serious matter and the case has been treated that way, but today it was the best outcome,” he said.
“His family is relieved and Bell looks forward to getting on with life.”
On April, 2017, Phillip Thomas was “shot in the ringhole” after being told to return to a house on Anzac Pde, where he had earlier purchased ice.
Bell pleaded not guilty to shoot with intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent for grevious bodily harm and assault with a dangerous firearm.
Following an almost two-week trial, where numerous witnesses including Mr Thomas gave evidence, the jury retired on Wednesday to consider their verdict.
Just after 11am on Thursday, jurors reached an unanimous decision, reading out “not guilty” to all three counts.
Bell gave out a wry smile following the verdict, nodding to a supporter in the gallery.
During the trial Mr Thomas told the jury how he was ambushed by a balaclava-clad gunman who tried to shoot him point-blank in the stomach before chasing him down and firing a bullet into his buttock.
He also told court that he had crawled to a nearby Muswellbrook house, blood pouring from the wound, before associates of the gunman arrived and stole “balls” of the drug “ice” and thousands of dollars cash.
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Mr Thomas also gave evidence that he could identify Mr Bell as the gunman who had approached him outside the Anzac Pde house because he had recognised his “demeanor” and “body language” from a meeting he had with Mr Bell the previous evening.
In his closing statement, defence barrister Michael Coroneos endured to discredit Mr Thomas and said there was a clear issue with his reliability as a witness.
“There are clear inconsistencies with his evidence and he is an unreliable witness,” Mr Coroneos said.
“Too many lies, too many inconsistencies.
“In the witness box he did not come over as a reliable witness, it was argumentative, he was rude and I’ll excuse the fact he swore on a regular basis.
“We are dealing with a person who is an admitted user and supplier.”
Bell will remain in custody as he serves a sentence for an unrelated matter, set to be released in December.