In attempting to get $13,000 for an illegal semi-automatic rifle, a Sydney man was fatally shot in the leg and quickly died from blood loss.
Mohammad Eimal Zarshoy is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of murdering 44-year-old Robert Atkinson at his home in Wentworthville in the evening of June 29, 2020.
In early June 2020, Mr Atkinson obtained a Six Corp model KS-30 self-loading rifle from a colleague he had known from working at business removal firm Allied Pickfords Australia.
Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys said the Wentworthville man had been in contact via Telegram with Zarshoy, who used the alias Yeah Yeah, to organise the sale of the gun and three clips of ammunition.
Mr Atkinson told his friend Justin Ryan he would sell the unregistered firearm for $13,000 to "Habibs", a generic term he used to refer to people from Lebanon or the Middle East.
The messages with Yeah Yeah did not directly refer to a firearm, instead talking about the sale of a bike or car.
Zarshoy also briefly worked at Allied Pickfords where he met Mr Atkinson and had visited the Wentworthville property to smoke cannabis.
He is accused of arriving at the home on June 29 to pick up the gun and then shooting Mr Atkinson in the leg with at least an intention to cause serious injury.
On leaving the house, he allegedly discharged the firearm at Mr Ryan with an intention to cause grievous bodily harm.
Mr Ryan will give evidence of how he pursued Zarshoy through the house after hearing the gunshot, attacking him in the front yard while armed with a kitchen knife and grabbing the barrel of the gun as it was pointed towards him before a shot was fired.
Wrestling over the knife, Zarshoy was allegedly injured after grabbing the blade with his left hand. Mr Ryan then ran back inside while Zarshoy fled in a waiting ute, the jury was told.
Mr Ryan called triple zero and used a lamp cord as a makeshift tourniquet in an attempt to stop Mr Atkinson's leg from bleeding. Paramedics arrived soon after, but could not save his life.
Zarshoy, who has pleaded not guilty to both charges, was arrested on July 6, 2020.
An autopsy revealed bullet fragments inside Mr Atkinson's body as well as significant levels of methylamphetamine, also known as ice, and cannabis.
A forensic pharmacologist is expected to give evidence that these drugs would have affected Mr Atkinson's behaviour at the time of his death.
The rifle was recovered on July 16 in a television box at a real estate agent in Auburn after police attended the business because Volkan Kurt blockaded himself inside a storeroom.
DNA evidence, including that from a black cap left at the crime scene, was linked to the accused.
Zarshoy's barrister Ronald Driels questioned the strength of the Crown case, including what actually happened inside the house during the gun sale.
"Mr Atkinson's selling it. He's got the bullets, he's got the cartridges, he's got the gun. Who loaded it? Well, his DNA was found on the fired cartridge, not Mr Zarshoy's," Mr Driels said.
The barrister also pointed out that one of Mr Atkinson's housemates, Clint Butler, who hid in his bedroom during the incident, only heard one gunshot, throwing doubt on Mr Ryan's claims a second shot was fired at him outside.
The trial before Justice David Davies continues on Wednesday.
