There was no evidence that murderer was armed before they shoot the roommate, the court believes

A new South Wales Supreme Court -justice has established that public prosecutors did not prove a man who admitted that he has confronted his victim with a gun.

Joshua Wright, 36, has guilty of killing his roommate John Simpson, 42, in a building on Great North Road, Laguna in April 2023.

Mr. Simpson’s body was found a few months later in a shallow grave on a neighboring building.

Prior to Wright’s conviction, a disputed factory hearing was held before Justice Richard Cavanagh, SC, about whom the gun had before Mr. Simpson was shot.

The crown claimed that Wright took a gun from a cupboard in the house of Laguna before he went to the barn and shot Mr. Simpson.

This version of events is disputed by the defense.

Wright told the police that he went to the barn to confront Mr. Simpson after he came home from work to discover that his two dogs had been seized by the RSPCA.

He claimed that the gun was already in the barn and that Mr. Simpson waved at him, which led to a scuffle in which the firearm discharged.

The defense does not dispute that Wright then deliberately shot Mr. Simpson.

“I just wanted to hit him”

The court was played an excerpt from his police interview in which Wright said that the first shot that Mr Simpson met was unintentionally.

When he was asked about the second shot, Mr. Wright said: “I don’t know why I did it”.

“I think he was already dead … there was so much blood,” he said.

“I didn’t mean it would happen … I didn’t go upstairs to shoot him … I just wanted to hit him.”

The court heard the second shot Mr. Simpson hit in the area of ​​neck/upper back.

During his police interview, Wright was asked if he remembers that he focused on Mr. Simpson.

“Not a complete goal,” Wright said.

‘Boom Boom, it was over’

Another roommate of the couple, Jeremy McLaughlin, told the court that he went to his room on the afternoon from the shooting to prevent a confrontation.

He said he knew that the cupboard where the gun was held was opened because it had “a unique sound”.

Mr. McLaughlin told the court that he saw Wright in the corridor, but did not see him open the cupboard.

Another witness told the court that Wright said to him: “I grabbed my gun, walked outside and boom boom, it was over”.

The defense has argued that both witnesses are unreliable because they have lied to the police several times.

Justice Cavanagh has discovered that the crown did not show without reasonable doubt that Wright took the gun from cupboard before Mr. Simpson was shot.

Wright is expected to be convicted later this week and the disputed facts will be considered during the trial.