A MAN accused of helping to dump the body of murdered mother Carly McBride, lying to police and attempting to create a false alibi for her boyfriend allegedly texted a friend: "I gave everything I had to help someone get out of a bad situation", a jury has been told.
James Anthony Cunneen, now 30, has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder over the death of Ms McBride and is facing an estimated three-month trial in the Sydney Downing Centre District Court.
Ms McBride, a mother-of-two, was last seen leaving her ex-partner's house at Muswellbrook about 2pm on September 30, 2014.
Her skeletal remains were found in remote bushland at Owens Gap, on the outskirts of Scone, nearly two years later.
The prosecution case is that Ms McBride's boyfriend, Sayle Kenneth Newson, intercepted Ms McBride after she left the house in Calgaroo Avenue and killed her by inflicting a number of blows to her head and back.
And during his opening address on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Adrian Robertson told the jury that shortly after Ms McBride was murdered, Mr Cunneen became involved in what would become a plan to dispose of Ms McBride's body, create a false alibi for Mr Newson and point the finger at Ms McBride's ex-partner.
Mr Robertson said as well as Mr Cunneen telling police he and Mr Newson were "together all afternoon" on the day Ms McBride was killed, there were other elements of alleged assistance including supporting Mr Newson's efforts to appear as the grieving partner and the deletion of mobile phone data.
And while Mr Cunneen's alleged assistance was "quite intense" in the days and weeks after Ms McBride's disappearance, the prosecution case is that it endured until the pair were both arrested in 2017.
"There was this dual aspect of Mr Newson and [Mr Cunneen] updating each other on the state of the police investigation," Mr Robertson said. "And Mr Newson, we say, confirming over a long period that Mr Cunneen was solid, that he was going to stand by his friend and not break ranks."
Mr Robertson read a text message from April 2015 purporting to be from Mr Cunneen to a friend where he alleged Mr Cunneen was talking about assisting Mr Newson.
"I lost out big time," the text reads. "I gave everything I had to help someone to get out of a bad situation. He's a good mate but that's not why I did it. I did it because if the tables were turned I know that he would be the only person that I know that would do it for someone else in his position."
Defence barrister Dr Robert Cavanagh will deliver his opening address on Monday.
