Murder accused shot Gold Coast lover’s de facto Sam Dhody 10 times in head, court told
A MURDERED Gold Coast man was involved in a complicated ‘love square’ before his alleged assailant hid in a cupboard and shot him 10 times in the head.
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A MAN accused of helping murder his lover’s de facto husband hid in a cupboard waiting for the victim to fall asleep before shooting him 10 times in the head, a court was told yesterday.
Adam James Gooley, 32, and former lover Melissa Leigh Shaw, 27, faced a committal hearing in Southport Magistrates Court yesterday charged with murdering Gold Coast businessman Shyam “Sam’’ Dhody in July last year.
The pair are jointly charged with Dhody’s murder after the Indian-born man was found shot to death at his Gilston home on July 5, 2013.
They are also both charged with attempting to unlawfully kill the 37-year-old after attacking him with a crow bar in an earlier incident in Molendinar in March, just four months before the murder.
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Police have alleged Shaw asked her secret lover, Gooley, to kill Mr Dhody because of ongoing domestic violence and they planned and committed the crime together.
Yesterday, a fourth love interest emerged with a woman who worked for Dhody admitting they had “grown close” in the lead-up to the murder.
Jacqueline Bezemer was one of the last people to see Dhody alive after the pair returned from a business trip to Newcastle the day before the murder.
She initially told police that Shaw was a “quiet person, very gentle and caring” and “Sam and Melissa” got along well and she was not aware of any issues between them.
However, in a second statement, Ms Bezemer admitted she had overheard a heated phone call between Dhody and his partner during which he called her a “worthless, stupid whore” and he had told her he “no longer loved” Shaw.
She repeatedly defended not telling police about the call, claiming she “didn’t want to get involved”.
Under questioning by barrister Jeff Hunter, for Jacobson Mahony Lawyers, Ms Bezemer admitted she and Mr Dhody became close before his death, even sharing a bed on business trips.
“Obviously when you work with someone for a while, you get closer to them — that’s just how it goes,” Ms Bezemer said.
She denied accusations of “sexting” Mr Dhody, but admitted the texts exchanged between the pair were “flirty” and she “might have sent him a modelling pic”.
Ms Bezemer also admitted Mr Dhody was “jealous” of her boyfriend, often took her to dinner and showered her with expensive gifts.
Mr Hunter also questioned Ms Bezemer about a $30,000 payment from one of Mr Dhody’s companies which she claimed was payment for selling several properties, but could not recall which properties and failed to declare the income to the tax department.
Coomera CIB boss, Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Procter, gave evidence that police had been tipped off that Gooley had been involved in the attack and that he had been “hiding in the cupboard waiting for Dhody to go to sleep”.
The committal hearing before Magistrate Catherine Pirie continues this morning.
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