Marathon trial for accused cop killer Jason Roberts begins
The trial of Jason Roberts has begun as a court seeks answers for the deaths of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller in 1998.
Police & Courts
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The trial of alleged double murderer Jason Roberts, accused of shooting dead two policemen during a roadside ambush will centre on a simple question: was he there?
Prosecutor Ben Ihle, QC, began his opening address to the Supreme Court jury shortly after 11am on the first day of a marathon murder trial expected to last at least four months.
“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together … over the next three to four months,” Mr Ihle told the 14 jurors.
During the first day of the trial the court heard that Sergeant Gary Silk never had a chance to unclip his gun before he was shot dead on the side of Cochranes Rd.
When nearby officers raced to the scene of the shooting after hearing a “rapid volley of gunfire” shortly after midnight, Sergeant Silk was lying on his side with his firearm still holstered.
“It would seem that he never had a chance to draw, or fire his weapon,” prosecutor Ben Ihle QC said on Tuesday afternoon.
A photo of Sergeant Silk’s body, from his hips down, was shown to the jury.
In it, a small black pen could be seen lying in the grass next to his black boots and jeans.
His notebook and diary were never found, the court heard.
Sergeant Silk sustained three gunshot wounds: one to the hip, one to the chest and a bullet to the head.
The court heard the bullets came from two different firearms.
A total of 11 shots were fired from three different guns that night, Mr Ihle said.
Radio transmission from responding officers was played to the jury, depicting the frantic moments following the deadly ambush.
“We’re part of an armed robbery unit, we’re on Warrigal and Cochranes Rd, member down, shot to the head, we need an ambulance urgent, and we’re missing another member,” a responding officer said down the radio.
Nine minutes after the first call, Senior-Constable Rodney Miller was found more than 150m away from his slain colleague, fatally wounded from a single gunshot that travelled through the side of his chest.
“We’ve found the second member, he’s been shot in the stomach … he’s conscious, he’s breathing,” officers called.
Photographs of the slain police officers were flashed on the screen as Mr Ihle walked the jury for the first time through events of the evening of August 16.
Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller were on “stake-out” duty as part of a police operation, dubbed Hamada, investigating a series of armed robberies in Melbourne’s eastern and southern suburbs.
The officers were stationed outside the Silky Emperor restaurant on Warragul Rd, Moorabbin.
Shortly after midnight, the officers spotted a blue 1997 Hyundai Excel and followed the car on to Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, to intercept it.
Bandali Debs, the father of Robert’s girlfriend and co-offender in the Hamada robberies, was the likely driver of the car, the court heard.
Roberts was the likely passenger, Mr Ihle said.
“Within a short time of that car being pulled over, Sergeant Gary Silk lay dead on the grassy verge,” Mr Ihle said.
“Shortly after, Rodney Miller lay dying on the footpath and driveway in front of the Silky Emperor,” he said.
Sergeant Silk had been shot three times and died at the scene.
Constable Miller, who suffered a single gunshot, later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Roberts, who sat at the back of the courtroom, faces 12 charges.
Roberts has pleaded not guilty to the shooting deaths of Sergeant Gary Silk, 34, and Senior Constable Rodney Miller, 35, in Moorabbin on August 16, 1998.
“It’s important to remember as he sits there, he sits there as an innocent man,” Mr Ihle said.
“He starts as a presumed innocent man and it’s the prosecution that bears the burden to satisfy you of the contrary,” he said.
Mr Ihle said the areas of dispute were “somewhat limited”.
“We expect that … the defence on behalf of (Robert’s) is quite simply: ‘I wasn’t there,” Mr Ihle said.
Mr Ihle said, however, while the defence might be “seductively simple”, many questions would arise throughout the 16-week trial.
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