A teenager accused of being an accessory to a targeted Canberra killing allegedly said he would need to get rid of two shotguns and "make some shit up", a court has heard.
Reatile Ncube, a 19-year-old Dunlop man, was refused bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday morning, after he was arrested on Friday evening.
Ncube's arrest - the first in a year-long investigation into the shooting - is set to be followed by more arrests "very shortly".
Ncube has been charged with one count of accessory after the fact to murder in relation to the doorway shooting death of Glenn Walewicz, 48, in Phillip almost a year ago.
Police have alleged Ncube was driving a black Proton Suprima, seen parked out the front of Mr Walewicz's unit the night the man was shot.
After police on Thursday identified Ncube as the driver of the car by linking mobile phone tower data and traffic camera footage, a transcript of an intercepted phone call tendered in court showed Ncube telling another man he would "make up some shit saying I was picking up a mate or maybe I will just say I don't remember".
Court documents said Ncube told police in an interview on Friday afternoon he was driving the car the night Mr Walewicz was killed, but was just driving around the Phillip area but could not remember where he was specifically.
But after the interview, Ncube is alleged to have told another man in a text message exchange he had to "get rid of something - know what I'm saying".
"We are f---ed if they are listening to your phone you dumb c---," the man Ncube was talking to is alleged to have said.
After intercepting the conversation, police arrested Ncube in Dunlop on Friday evening.
Homicide detectives, who have previously confirmed Mr Walewicz's killing was a targeted attack, are yet to charge anyone with committing the murder.
Mr Walewicz was shot in the chest when he answered the door of his unit inside the Connorville Gardens complex in Mansfield Place, Phillip, around 11.39pm on June 10, 2021.
A woman was at the unit with Mr Walewicz at the time of the incident.
A duty lawyer acting for Ncube applied for bail on Saturday, arguing the delay between the alleged offending and the arrest, along with no criminal history and a supportive family, amounted to special or exceptional circumstances.
But the court heard the prosecution believed Ncube was likely to interfere with witnesses if bailed, which could amount to further offending.
Magistrate James Stewart rejected the bail application, saying there was nothing exceptional about young men with no criminal history appearing before the courts charged in relation to violent offences.
Ncube did not enter a plea, was remanded in custody and will appear again in court later this month.
