It was only good luck that saved a man whose jaw was "broken into small pieces" by a bullet when he was shot in the face in Canberra's north, a jury has been told.
Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey said that in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday afternoon, when he gave his closing address to the jury in the trial of Sugimatatihuna Bernard Gabriel Mena, 24.
Mena has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, an alternative allegation of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, and unlawfully discharging a firearm in an act endangering life.
Mena and co-accused Bradley Joe Roberts, 24, and Rebecca Dulcie Parlov, 25, all deny an aggravated burglary charge levelled at them over the same March 2021 incident in Spence.
Closing his case on Monday, Mr Hickey said the trio had "barged in" to a home with intent to harm or threaten a man who was the subject of "a made-up rumour" about him being "a kiddie fiddler".
Mr Hickey said there was "no real issue" that the person who then shot the victim had intended to kill.
He told jurors the main thing they needed to consider in terms of the attempted murder charge was the identity of the shooter, and whether it was Mena as the Crown alleged.
"Sugi Mena wasn't shooting to scare or injure [the victim]," Mr Hickey said.
"No. Instead, he deliberately aimed his shots at the centre of [the victim's] chest and at his face."
The prosecutor reminded jurors of medical evidence given by a doctor during the trial, which has been running nearly two weeks, saying gunshot wounds to the head and neck area "can absolutely be fatal".
Mr Hickey added that this was "probably common sense".
"It was just good luck that the gunshot wound to [the victim's] face wasn't fatal here," he said.
Mr Hickey told jurors that defence counsel might suggest, in their closing addresses, that the trio charged had not been at the scene of the incident.
He noted that barrister Keegan Lee, representing Parlov, had suggested during cross-examination that the victim "had dramas with other people" who might have been out to get him at the time in question.
But Mr Hickey said the victim had responded by asking who these people were and saying he was "not aware of that", as if it did not accord with his recollection.
The prosecutor also told jurors the victim and the occupant of the Spence house - a woman who was on parole at the time in question - had each identified the accused as the people who invaded the home.
He said the Crown case was "not one-dimensional" because there were two people identifying the trio, while there were also "relentless phone calls and messages" from Parlov and Roberts in the lead-up.
Mr Hickey said these showed the accused were determined to track the victim down and confront him over the "kiddie fiddler" rumour, which they "weren't going to let ... slide".
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told the jury defence counsel would begin their closing addresses on Tuesday morning.
