A MAN accused of murdering Stacey Klimovitch admits he was in a car bound for Stockton on the night the 61-year-old grandmother was gunned down.
But Canberra man Jason Paul Hawkins, now 48, claims that a short time after getting into the passenger seat of a Holden Commodore outside a house at Heddon Greta he got dropped off and did not make the trip across the Stockton bridge on the night Mrs Klimovitch was shot dead.
Mr Hawkins has pleaded not guilty to murder over the death of Mrs Klimovitch, who was shot once in the chest with a shotgun after answering her front door in Queen Street about 8pm on June 9, 2021.
On Monday, he faced the first day of an estimated three-week trial in Newcastle Supreme Court that will focus on the identity of a gunman who prosecutors say executed the "premeditated and targeted" shooting murder of Mrs Klimovitch.
After his arrest in the ACT in November 2021, Mr Hawkins was shown CCTV footage from outside the home in Heddon Greta that police said showed him getting into the Holden Commodore used to transport the gunman to Stockton.
"Yeah I'll say I was there, that is me," Mr Hawkins said in response to seeing the footage. "But I got out of the car and got dropped off just up the road."
He also told another police officer he had been "stitched up" and had only gone to Newcastle to help Stuart Campbell with some roofing.
During his opening address, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, told the jury the murder stemmed from ongoing animosity between Mrs Klimovitch and Mr Campbell, the ex-partner of Mrs Klimovitch's daughter.
Mr Hatfield took the jury through the breakdown of the relationship between Mr Campbell and Mrs Klimovitch's daughter, the birth of Mr Campbell's child and two "important incidents" that occurred at a house in Argenton in the months before the shooting.
Mr Hatfield said in March, after the birth of his child and while his ex was still in hospital, Mr Campbell went to the house at Argenton and damaged property before telling Mrs Klimovitch "I'm going to do you in".
Mrs Klimovitch responded: "Go your hardest", Mr Hatfield told the jury.
Then, sometime later, when Mr Campbell came to the house at Argenton to visit his newborn child, he and Mrs Klimovitch had an argument outside that ended with Mrs Klimovitch slapping Mr Campbell.
Mr Hatfield told the jury Mr Campbell "developed significant animosity" towards Mrs Klimovitch and approached at least one other man to kill her.
But he alleged Mr Campbell eventually recruited Mr Hawkins to be the gunman and another man to drive him to and from Stockton.
Meanwhile, while while the murder plot was being executed, Mr Campbell made sure he had an alibi, Mr Hatfield said.
Mr Campbell was charged with murder but died before facing trial.
Mr Hatfield said the prosecution case against Mr Hawkins would focus on a CCTV compilation from homes and businesses at Stockton and Heddon Greta as well as other electronic evidence, including text messages.
He said on the night of the murder, Mr Campbell and Mr Hawkins travelled to the house at Heddon Greta where they met with the man who would later drive the Holden Commodore to Stockton.
"The Crown case is the gun used to kill Stacey Klimovitch was brought to the house at Heddon Greta and then in some way it was placed in the [Holden Commodore] before they headed to Stockton to carry out the murder," Mr Hatfield said.
Mr Hatfield said before leaving the Heddon Greta house in the Commodore, Mr Hawkins grabbed a red hat off the verandah.
He said investigators claim they were able to map the route the Commodore took from Heddon Greta to Stockton using CCTV footage from various businesses.
And using CCTV cameras in Stockton, Mr Hatfield said a figure could be seen leaving a shotgun in the bushes outside a house in Queen Street a few minutes before the murder.
He said the Commodore was driven to another street, the figure came back and collected the shotgun before walking up to the front door of Mrs Klimovitch's home and shooting her at close range.
"You'll see the person wearing a light-coloured zip-up top," Mr Hatfield said. "At one point you see them put the hood down and you can see the red cap. On the Crown case that is Mr Hawkins wearing the same cap he picked up from Heddon Greta."
Mr Hatfield said the gunman was later dropped at a house at Argenton and a woman staying at that house allegedly texted Mr Campbell: "I think Jase said to say its all bagged up".
"On the Crown case that is a message to say the murder had been carried out," Mr Hatfield said.
Mr Hatfield said it was unclear exactly what the gunman was paid for murdering Mrs Klimovitch.
During his opening address, barrister Ben Bickford told the jury it was the defence case that someone else, not Mr Hawkins, killed Mrs Klimovitch.
"Mr Hawkins case is that he did get into the car with [the driver] at the house at Heddon Greta on the night of the shooting," Mr Bickford said. "But shortly after [the driver] left that address, Mr Hawkins got out of that car. So he did not go to Stockton and whatever [the driver] did when he went to Stockton that night or whatever Stuart Campbell might have arranged in relation to Mrs Klimovitch is not something that Mr Hawkins was involved in. So the allegation that it was he that shot her is in dispute in the trial."
The trial continues.
