Geelong drug dealer Nicholas Cross loses appeal over murder of Maddison Pante

A Geelong drug dealer found guilty of murder two and a half years ago, who still denies shooting a woman, has learned the outcome of his appeal.

Nicholas Cross (left) killed Maddison Pante (right) in 2018 has failed in his bid to appeal his conviction.

A Geelong drug dealer adamant he did not shoot a woman in the head, despite being found guilty of murder two years ago, has found out if his appeal against his murder conviction was successful.

Nicholas Cross was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in jail in February 2023 for the murder of Maddison Pante.

In March 2023, Cross planned to appeal the decision and a hearing was conducted in the Supreme Court in April this year.

Ms Pante and her boyfriend, whom she had met two months earlier, Brodi Costello, were staying at the Geelong Showgrounds in a tent in December 2018.

On December 3, sometime after 8am, Cross walked into the tent with a loaded gun and was shortly followed by Ms Pante.

As Cross and Ms Pante were arguing, Mr Costello said he was on the phone to Centrelink so he could start receiving benefits and remained on the five-minute call even after she was murdered.

Cross believed that Justice Rita Incerti, who found him guilty in the judge-alone trial, made an ‘unsafe and unsatisfactory’ decision”

Cross has continued to maintain his innocence, claiming Mr Costello was the one who shot Ms Pante.

Maddison Pante: Supplied.

During his trial in 2022, Cross told the court Ms Conte had offered to give him oral sex in exchange for ice in front of Mr Costello.

Cross claimed Mr Costello was bemused. Cross’s evidence was that Ms Pante looked at Mr Costello and said ‘So what? It’s too bad he’s not a f---got because then you could too’.

In Cross’ version of events, he said that Mr Costello immediately leant forward, grabbed the gun and shot Ms Pante as a result of the remark.

Cross’s other grounds of appeal included not giving other witness’ evidence sufficient weight and the unreliability of Mr Costello.

Cross’s legal team argued that Mr Costello’s claim of being on a Centrelink call during the shooting was unlikely and didn’t fit with the known facts.

They also said Mr Costello’s account of the shooting conflicted with the physical evidence and should have been treated as unreliable.

After undertaking a review of the grounds of appeal, Supreme Court judges Kristen Walker, Lesley Taylor and Christopher Boyce said it was well open to the judge to be satisfied of the applicant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“It follows that either Mr Costello or the applicant gave a deliberately dishonest account of the shooting.

“The applicant’s evidence should be rejected as untruthful because he was not a witness of credit. In short, he lied about having witnessed Mr Costello shoot Ms Pante”.

Originally published as Geelong drug dealer Nicholas Cross loses appeal over murder of Maddison Pante