Fight club member Diego Carbone appeals murder sentence

A man jailed for 18 years over an underground car park murder linked to a secretive fight club is appealing his conviction, centring on a knife and a 87-second phone call.

A man who was found to have brutally murdered another man over unpaid debt linked to members of a secretive Sydney fight club has made a bid for freedom as he appeals his conviction.

Diego Carbone was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison in April last year over his role in the reckless killing of 25-year-old Bradley Dillon on August 11, 2014.

Carbone pleaded not guilty to murder in his second trial before the Supreme Court, after his previous 2018 conviction for the murder was quashed on appeal.

But Justice Peter Garling was not convinced of the then 23-year-old’s innocence and found Carbone guilty of murder for the second time.

Mr Dillon, a father-of-two, was shot three times and stabbed at least four times as he was trying to flee the prearranged meeting with Carbone and his cousin Antonio “Tony” Bagnato, the court earlier heard.

Diego Carbone was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison with a minimum of 18 years. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

He was found collapsed on his back near Leichhardt Marketplace shopping centre.

During the second trial, the court was told Carbone was a former member of the St Michael Fight Club.

Mr Dillon wanted to recover $2000 his sister had loaned to her ex-boyfriend, also a fight club member, but he was threatened and turned to senior fight club member Bagnato for help.

But on Monday, Carbone took his case to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to fight his conviction.

His lawyer, Tim Game SC, told the court that the sentencing judge, Justice Peter Garling, had determined his client’s guilt based on “the balance of probabilities” instead of facts proven beyond reasonable doubt.

“So for instance, there’s a critical finding at the end of these reasons that my client, on the balance of probabilities, brought a knife (to the carpark),” Mr Game told the court.

“It’s not been found beyond reasonable doubt that he brought a knife or used it.”

When handing down his findings, Justice Garling said there was no rational inference available except that the accused had entered into an agreement with Bagnato to at least cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) to Mr Dillon when they met in an underground carpark on the day of his death.

Bradley Dillon. Picture: NSW Police

The court was told on the day of the killing Carbone and Bagnato spoke on the phone before Bagnato changed into a hooded sweatshirt and left the apartment to pick up the accused.

The pair, armed with a loaded Glock with at least five rounds in it and a knife, then drove toward Leichhardt where they told Mr Dillon to meet them at a TAB.

But they contacted him as they approached and redirected him to an underground carpark.

Carbone and Bagnato parked their car 200m away on a quiet street with easy access to Parramatta Rd before heading to the car park to meet Mr Dillon, the court was told.

There was a physical struggle between “at least” Carbone and Mr Dillon, during which time he was stabbed, Justice Garling found.

Justice Garling also found that as Mr Dillon attempted to flee, he was shot in the back.

He described the crime as a “brutal and callous attack” in which Bagnato was the ‘leader’ and Carbone was the ‘follower’.

Bagnato and Carbone were spotted running from the car park before getting into their car and fleeing the scene, the court was told.

Diego Carbone during his arrest. Picture: NSW Police

Justice Garling said the pair had used a burner phone and chose to hold the meeting in a place with no CCTV or witnesses.

But during the appeal hearing on Monday, Mr Game disputed the finding that Carbone and Bagnato spoke on the phone for 87 seconds ahead of Dillon’s death to make their agreement to at least cause GBH.

“I don’t mean to belittle, but there’s no evidence apart from high level inference drawing that they even spoke – that he (Carbone) even had a phone (on him),” he said.

He told the court a series of calls were made to Bagnato on Carbone’s brother’s phone, and the judge made an “inference” that Carbone had borrowed the phone and called Bagnato himself.

“But there needs to be finding beyond reasonable doubt that there was a plan ... if they’re just found on reasonable possibilities, you have a problem, because you have excluded possibilities of anything else.

Antonio ‘Tony’ Bagnato was charged over Mr Dillon’s death. Picture: NSW Police

I’ve never seen a case in my whole life where a judge has engaged in a process like this.”

The appeal proceedings became tense as Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson repeatedly said she did not understand Carbone’s lawyer’s line of argument. She said there appeared to be a whole lot of facts that have not been contested which the guilty verdict relied on, to which Carbone’s lawyer said he had just gone through several facts that he did contest.

The crown prosecutor argued Justice Garling made his findings in the standard and conventional way and his ruling was fair.

“There were a large number of circumstances that (together) proved beyond reasonable doubt the existence of a joint criminal enterprise to inflict at least GBH and the applicant’s participation in it,” the prosecutor said.

Carbone was arrested trying to board a flight back to Bangkok weeks after the murder.

Under Carbone’s current jail sentence, he must serve at least 18 years behind bars but could be freed by 2033 after servinglaw nearly eight years of pre-sentence detention.

In July last year, Bagnato was extradited from Bangkok by police and taken to a Sydney police station, where he was charged with Dillon’s 2014 death.

He is yet to enter pleas for murder and is next due to face Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.

Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson, Justice Derek Price and Justice David Davies reserved their appeal judgment for a later date.

- With NCA Newswire