A FORMER high-ranking bikie charged by detectives investigating the execution-style murder of Stockton swimming teacher Stacey Klimovitch has pleaded guilty to supplying ice, cannabis and GBL.
Stephen John Garland, now 64, of Waratah West, who is the former national office bearer of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday via audio visual link from jail where he pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis after the DPP agreed to withdraw more than 100 drug supply charges.
He will appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date.
Mr Garland supplied methamphetamine, cannabis and the party drug Gamma butyrolactone (GBL) on a number of occasions at Waratah West between September and November, 2021, the court heard.
Mr Garland was arrested on November 25 last year by Strike Force Backhouse detectives investigating the murder of Mrs Klimovitch, who was shot in the chest point blank with a 12 gauge shotgun when she answered the door to her Queen Street home about 8pm on June 9.
He was initially charged with more than 100 drug supply offences, but all but four of those charges were withdrawn by the DPP on Wednesday.
Mr Garland was initially refused bail on the drug supply charges and was not charged over his alleged involvement in the shooting of Mrs Klimovitch until December 15, when detectives went to Silverwater Correctional Centre and charged him with murder and accessory after the fact to murder.
Detectives allege Mr Garland was the man who drove accused Canberra hitman Jason Paul Hawkins from Heddon Greta to Stockton on the night Mrs Klimovitch was killed.
Mr Garland then allegedly waited in the car in nearby Crown Street during the shooting before driving the gunman to a house at Argenton. Detectives allege Mr Garland was directed to drive Mr Hawkins to and from the murder scene by Stuart Daniel Campbell, 29, who they say orchestrated the murder plot and hired Mr Hawkins to kill Mrs Klimovitch, the mother of his ex-partner.
The Newcastle Herald previously reported that detectives allege Mr Campbell had become enraged by the 61-year-old's overprotective and dominant approach and saw her as a threat to a relationship with his infant son.
Mr Campbell and Mrs Klimovitch had a "mutual hatred" for each other, detectives allege, and the genesis for the alleged plot to kill Mrs Klimovitch seems to stem from a confrontation at a house in Argenton in March shortly after the baby was born. The pair argued and Mrs Klimovitch told Mr Campbell: "You're never going to know the baby. Your name's not even going to be on the birth certificate".
Mr Garland, Mr Campbell and Mr Hawkins have not entered pleas in relation to the murder and will next appear in Newcastle Local Court on October 19. Mr Garland is no stranger to the drug supply trade and was jailed for a maximum of five years in 2018 for sending $750,000 worth of MDMA in a package from Darwin to Sydney.
