A MAN accused of robbing drug dealer David King in the moments before he tried to flee and was shot dead at Salt Ash was recorded allegedly planning the "drug rip", asking a woman if she could get him "someone to mug" and whether she knew "DK out at the Bay".
The recorded telephone conversations were played to the jury on Monday during the trial of Elijah Cage, Max Lowcock and Tyson Stamp, who are accused of murdering Mr King during an alleged "drug rip gone wrong".
Mr King, a 45-year-old mid-level methamphetamine dealer from Tanilba Bay, was killed when he was shot once at close range with a shortened shotgun while behind the wheel of a ute in Hideaway Drive on the afternoon of August 29, 2021.
The car then swerved off the road, careered into a tree and two men got out covered in blood, the jury has heard.
The trio of Mr Cage, Mr Lowcock and Mr Stamp have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr King as well as kidnapping the woman who brokered the drug deal and witnessed the shooting and are currently facing a trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.
It is the prosecution case that Mr King was shot by either Mr Cage or Mr Lowcock, who were in the car with him at the time he was gunned down, while Mr Stamp was waiting nearby in a hired Hyundai Santa Fe.
The trio are accused of conspiring to rob Mr King and allegedly used the woman as an intermediary because she had a close friendship with Mr King and could "open the door" and get him to "let his guard down", Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw has said.
But Mr Shaw said the trio did not go to Salt Ash with the intention of shooting Mr King, instead intending to rob him while armed with the shortened shotgun.
But on Monday, the jury heard a number of recorded telephone conversations between Mr Cage and a woman from earlier on the day of the shooting that Mr Shaw has said showed Mr Cage was in the "early stages of planning the armed drug rip".
During the first call, at 7.17am, Mr Cage is asked what he is doing and replies: "we're going to try and find some money to get some G", a reference to a drug known as liquid GHB, the woman said.
When the woman asked if Mr Cage could get her some, he replied: "Yeah, can you get me someone to mug?"
The woman laughed it off and then Mr Cage is recorded asking: "Oi, do you know DK out at the Bay?"
In a later recorded conversation, at 11.13am, the woman asks Mr Cage if he got any "drink", again a reference to liquid GHB.
"Um we've actually swapped rips, we're doing another rip," Mr Cage is recording replying.
Under cross-examination from Public Defender Angus Webb, for Mr Cage, the woman said she had a "jokey" relationship with Mr Cage and the question about "mugging" someone came out of the blue and she thought he was joking.
"I've never heard him talk like that before," the woman gave evidence. "I assumed he was joking that's why i laughed."
The trial continues.
