Cop killer Bandali Debs secret recordings evidence in Jason Roberts retrial

Secret recordings of cop killer Bandali Debs have been played in court in the retrial of Jason Robers over the Silk-Miller police murders.

Jason Roberts and Bandali Debs arrive at the Supreme Court in 2002. Picture: Trevor Pinder

Cop killer Bandali Debs has given evidence about secret recordings played to the Supreme Court in the retrial of Jason Roberts, who is accused of the 1998 Silk-Miller police murders.

Prosecutor Ben Ihle QC quizzed Debs over conversations secretly bugged by police in 2000, more than a year after Sgt Gary Silk and Sen Constable Rodney Miller were ambushed on Cochranes Rd, Moorabin.

Debs, who is convicted of the police murders, confessed to shooting officer Miller during his first day of evidence on Tuesday and testified that Roberts was with him on the morning of the murders on August 16, 1998.

He told the court he did not shoot Sergeant Silk.

Senior Constable Rodney Miller.

Sergeant Gary Silk.

One of the conversations played to the Supreme Court murder trial on Wednesday morning, picked up by police bugs on February 15, 2000, was between Debs and his father, Malik Debs.

The 32-minute recording begins with Debs telling his father what he told police about how the rear windscreen of the Hyundai, which was used in commission of the police murders, was smashed.

During the recording, known as B24, Debs describes fixing the Hyundai before detailing how the police shootings unfolded.

Early in the recording Debs tells Malik: “A few shots, it’s no worries...’’

Debs was also asked by Mr Ihle who he was referring to when he said on the recording “Oh, no. He wasn’t beside the car.’’

Bandali Debs was secretly recorded by police while speaking to his father about the murders.

He told the court: “I can recall that part. I’m talking about Jason, Jason Roberts’’.

The 68-year-old was then asked about a part of the recording in which he says “When we drove in just to quickly look. They seen us, they drove behind us and drove down the street to stop us.’’

Ihle asked Debs about this portion of the recording and who he was referring to.

Debs answered: “Jason Roberts and myself.’’

Mr Roberts has pleaded not guilty to murdering Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller, arguing he was not at the crime scene.

The jury has been told that Debs and Mr Roberts were both convicted over the police shootings in 2002, but Mr Roberts was granted a retrial after an appeal in 2020.

The trial continues.