Defence barristers have suggested jurors will likely think "there's a lot more going on" than what prosecutors claim in the case of an alleged attempted murder.
The trial of a man accused of shooting a victim in the face in Canberra's north began in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday.
Sugimatatihuna Bernard Gabriel Mena, 24, is charged with attempted murder, an alternative allegation of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm and unlawfully discharging a firearm in an act endangering life.
Co-accused Bradley Joe Roberts and Rebecca Dulcie Parlov, both aged in their mid-20s, were charged along with Mena with joint commission aggravated burglary.
All three have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
In his opening address to the jury, prosecutor Trent Hickey outlined the case, saying about 7am on March 11, 2021, police received a call that a man had gunshot wounds to his arm, abdomen and face at Calvary Hospital.
The man told emergency services he had been shot with a rifle and asked them to not call police before he later became unconscious and had breathing issues, which led to hospital staff placing him in a medically induced coma.
Mr Hickey said it was not until March 18 last year, when the victim woke up from his coma, that police able to "break through" in their investigation.
It's alleged Roberts had attended a planned meeting about 3am with a woman, who cannot be named, at the Bonner shops.
Roberts allegedly said he wanted to do something to the victim because he believed that man was a "kiddie fiddler", which Mr Hickey told the jury was "nonsense".
In the following hours, about 4.54am, it is alleged Parlov sent the unidentifiable woman Facebook messages saying they were coming around to her Spence home.
Parlov then allegedly called the unidentifiable woman and the two began arguing about whether the victim was a "kiddie fiddler".
A short time later, the three accused allegedly arrived at the woman's Spence home.
Parlov allegedly went up to the victim and yelled at him before Mena allegedly came in with a covered face, took out a gun from his pants and shot the complainant in the stomach.
The victim also received a shot to his arm, however Mr Hickey said it was unclear if that was aimed at his arm or if he was hit when putting his arm up in self defence.
Mena then allegedly tried to reload the gun and told the victim he was a kiddie fiddler before shooting him in the face.
Once the three co-accused left, the victim did not let the unidentifiable woman drive him to hospital as she had a disqualified licence at the time.
The woman, who was on parole at the time, began cleaning the floor of her home, saying she did not want to go back to prison.
She later told police she cleaned because she "freaked out".
Defence barrister Slade Howell said his client, Mena, firmly disputed claims he was involved as the shooter.
Mr Howell said the victim admitted "I was off my head" that night and was driving for the unidentifiable woman, who was dealing drugs.
The jury heard the victim was also in the process of "blooding out" of a criminal gang, and had already been extorted for money and assaulted a number of times.
Defence barrister for Parlov, Keegan Lee, told the jury it should put aside any feelings of sympathy for the victim.
"You may think at the end of the case that there's a lot more going on here," he said.
Roberts' barrister, Mary Keaney, argued there had been "a social culture of not snitching to police", making it difficult to trust the evidence that would be given by the victim and the unidentifiable woman.
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
