A detective who made a statement about the dying declarations of a murdered Victoria Police officer in 1998 later admitted he could not remember a conversation with him.
Former homicide detective Ron Iddles was the final witness called in the murder trial of Jason Roberts who is accused of killing Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller in Melbourne in August 1998.
Mr Iddles discovered in 2013 the original statement made by officer Glenn Pullin about that night was never included in the brief of evidence used to convict Roberts more than 20 years ago.
Roberts is standing trial again after Victoria's Court of Appeal overturned that conviction.
A second statement was pulled together at the instructions of a more senior officer, George Buchhorn, Mr Iddles said Mr Pullin told him in 2015.
He told the court Mr Pullin said he was told another officer overheard conversations between him and Sen Const Miller which hadn't been included in his statement.
"George told me the other member was a bit of a dickhead and they needed to rely on me for the conversation," Mr Pullin said, according to Mr Iddles.
"I could not remember whether I had a conversation with Rod Miller or not but to the best of my recollection I had not spoken to Rod. I was just comforting him."
Mr Pullin said he was later instructed not to mention the fact he made an earlier statement.
The so-called dying declarations of Sen Const Miller included indications there were two offenders at the scene.
It's a key piece of evidence according to prosecutor Ben Ihle QC, who told jurors in his closing remarks on Tuesday morning they had to be satisfied of three points.
The first is that there were two people present at Cochranes Road, Moorabbin, soon after midnight on August 16 when the officers were shot and killed.
They must also be satisfied Jason Roberts was one of those people and he was criminally involved in the murders, he said.
It's alleged Roberts is directly liable for murdering Sgt Silk with a .38 calibre round that struck the officer in the chest, or he aided and abetted Bandali Debs who fired shots into Sgt Silk's hip and head.
Prosecutors say he is guilty of Sen Const Miller's murder through his aiding and abetting of Debs.
Roberts has pleaded not guilty and told jurors he wasn't there that night.
Mr Ihle's closing address is expected to run until Thursday.
With closing remarks from Roberts' barrister David Hallowes SC and directions from Justice Stephen Kaye to follow, jurors have been told it might still be weeks before they retire to consider their verdict.
