Roger Rogerson to call secret witness at Jamie Gao murder appeal case
Six new witnesses are expected to be called at the appeal of killer cop Roger Rogerson, three by him and three by the prosecution, a court has been told.
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Killer cop Roger Rogerson has a secret new witness to call in his defence as he prepares for his last-ditch attempt at freedom.
The name of the witness has been suppressed, the Court of Criminal Appeal heard on Thursday.
The person is one of three new witnesses former Kings Cross detective Rogerson, 79, wants to give fresh evidence at his appeal hearing.
He is fighting to overturn his conviction for the drug rip-off murder of Jamie Gao, 21, who was shot dead in a southern Sydney Rent-A-Space storage unit.
Rogerson, fellow disgraced cop Glen McNamara and Gao were filmed going inside — but only Rogerson and McNamara came out 10 minutes later.
The CCTV cameras at the Padstow unit block showed them backing up their station wagon to the unit’s roller door and carrying out what was Gao’s body wrapped in a surfboard cover and a blue tarpaulin.
His body was found days later floating in the waters off Cronulla.
McNamara is also appealing his convictions and sentence but despite once being close, even sharing a bunk bed in the same cell for 52 nights, the two partners in crime have since turned on each other.
They are not co-operating with each other in their appeals. They were both jailed for life for Gao’s murder and for 12 years for supplying a prohibited drug after taking the 3kg of methamphetamine, worth $3 million, that Gao carried to the meeting intending to sell to the former cops.
Rogerson’s appeal centres on evidence which was ruled inadmissable by the trial judge Justice Geoffrey Bellew, the appeal court has been told.
Justice Bellew’s reasons for that decision remain suppressed despite a jury convicting Rogerson and McNamara in 2016.
The prosecution also has three fresh witnesses to call, with one of the names also suppressed, the court was told on Thursday.
The appeals by the two men have been stood over for mention on August 20.