'I didn't do this': alleged getaway driver denied murder plot role

DETECTIVES investigating the "targeted" shooting murder of Stockton grandmother Stacey Klimovitch had just knocked on a door at Waratah to seize the alleged getaway vehicle when Stephen John Garland did something unexpected.

"I didn't do this you know," Mr Garland told investigators towards the end of a conversation that was being covertly recorded.

It was November, 2021 and Mr Garland had just been told his Holden Commodore was being towed so specialists could examine the GPS when he began speaking about what happened on the night Ms Klimovitch was gunned down in Queen Street.

"I didn't do anything, I didn't know about it, I wasn't part of the planning, I wasn't part of nothing," Mr Garland told detectives, who had to caution him about his right to silence.

Stephen Garland's Holden Commodore is seized by investigators. He was recorded denying any knowledge of the plot to murder Stacey Klimovitch.

"If people who were involved say I was involved they are f---ing liars."

Mr Garland said the alleged mastermind, Stuart Campbell, had asked him to drop his mate at Stockton "as a favour".

Mr Garland said he did not want to, but Mr Campbell said he owed him because he had helped Mr Garland out with rental accommodation.

Mr Garland told investigators he had driven Mr Campbell's mate to Stockton, dropped him in a street, waited and then driven him to Edgeworth.

Mr Garland said he was "shocked" when he found out the next day that Ms Klimovitch had been shot dead.

"Absolutely f---ing shocked," Mr Garland says to investigators on the recording. "That he would do that, ask someone to do that. "I did not f---ing know that was happening. I wasn't part of any f---ing plans. Had I have known I would have told them to get f---ed. "I wouldn't have done that, especially a lady, a grandmother. I did this f---er a favour and he did that to me."

Stacey Klimovitch was shot in the chest with a shotgun when she answered her front door in Queen Street, Stockton in June, 2021.

Towards the end of the recording, Mr Garland asked if he was being arrested and a detective replied: "we are here to take the car. I wasn't expecting you to tell me this."

Mr Garland, 65, has pleaded not guilty to murder and being an accessory after the fact to murder over the death of Mrs Klimovitch, who was shot once in the chest with a shotgun after she answered her front door in Queen Street about 8pm on June 9, 2021 in what prosecutors allege was a "targeted" and "premeditated" shooting.

He claims he was "duped" into unknowingly participating in the 61-year-old's murder and told police he was "coaxed" into driving the alleged gunman to and from Stockton on the night of the shooting by the mastermind, Mr Campbell, who repeatedly asked him to repay a favour.

A friend of Mr Garland gave evidence last week that the 65-year-old was "quite upset" that someone had been hurt and that his mate, Mr Campbell, had "betrayed him and set him up".

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, has told the jury the murder stemmed from ongoing animosity between Mrs Klimovitch and Mr Campbell, the ex-partner of Mrs Klimovitch's daughter.

He said Mr Campbell had the motive and arranged the murder, recruiting the alleged gunman to pull the trigger and Mr Garland to drive him to and from Stockton.

He said the three men were engaged in a joint criminal enterprise to murder Mrs Klimovitch and, while he didn't pull the trigger, Mr Garland knew his role was the driver.

Mr Campbell was charged with murder but died before facing trial.

The trial continues.

Specialist police examining the crime scene at the front door of a home at Stockton where Stacey Klimovitch was shot and killed in June, 2021. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers