A CANBERRA man accused of executing Stacey Klimovitch at her front door in 2021 says he came to Newcastle to do roofing work and deliver a "large quantity" of ice and was not involved in the plot to murder the Stockton grandmother.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jason Paul Hawkins, 48, on Tuesday gave evidence for a second day in his murder trial in Newcastle Supreme Court, telling the jury he was in the car bound for Stockton on the night of the shooting, but jumped out and fled into bushland when he saw someone with a firearm by the side of John Renshaw Drive.
He said he had been "stitched up" by the man who masterminded the shooting and claimed when he was told what he was being charged with he "vomited" and "cried his eyes out for the poor family".
Prosecutors claim the man at the door was Mr Hawkins, who had been hired by Campbell and who called out "Stacey" before he shot Mrs Klimovitch once in the chest with a shotgun at close range.
Mr Hawkins has pleaded not guilty to murder and the trial is focusing on the identity of the gunman.
Mr Campbell, a drug dealer who masterminded the shooting over ongoing animosity with Mrs Klimovitch, was charged with murder, but died before facing trial.
Mr Hawkins spent Monday afternoon explaining what he claims happened after he was captured on CCTV getting into a Holden Commodore bound for Stockton outside a house at Heddon Greta on the night of the murder.
He said he was in the passenger seat beside a man the prosecution say was the getaway driver as they drove down Main Road at Heddon Greta, onto the Hunter Expressway and then took an exit onto John Renshaw Drive.
"As we're driving along I see up ahead hazard lights flashing," Mr Hawkins said. "There was a car sitting on the side of the road. As we pulled up... I just saw someone jump out of the backseat and all I could see was the butt of a firearm. Soon as I seen that, I just said "nup, I don't want no part of this" and hooked it into the bushes."
Mr Hawkins said the getaway driver yelled out at him and asked where he was going, but he didn't reply or look back and ran into the bush and laid down.
He claimed he waited for the two cars to drive away and then walked for hours - some 18 kilometres - along John Renshaw Drive and then the Hunter Expressway towards a house at Argenton before he was picked up by a passerby.
Under cross-examination from Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, Mr Hawkins denied that a trip he made from Newcastle to Canberra and back in the days before the murder was to collect a shotgun.
And he said he lied to police the day after the murder because he was worried about getting into trouble for picking up a large quantity of methamphetamine for Campbell.
He said he returned to Newcastle in the early hours of June 9 to complete some roofing work for Campbell and to deliver the package of ice.
He claimed he went with Campbell to the house at Heddon Greta to drop of a ute he had borrowed and thought he was getting a lift back to Argenton with Campbell, but he was told he would instead be going with the getaway driver.
He denied giving fake names to people at the house at Heddon Greta and putting a gun into the boot of the Commodore before they left for Stockton.
And he denied CCTV footage outside the house showed Campbell giving him a hug before he left because, as Mr Hatfield put it, "you were doing something very important for him... you were doing something in relation to his mother-in-law".
He claimed he got in the car to get a lift back to Argenton and had no idea of the plan to go to Stockton.
"All I can tell you is that not once was I asked to go and shoot anyone, let alone a woman," Mr Hawkins said. "I did not go to Stockton. I know I did not murder that woman."
Mr Hawkins denied fabricating the story about getting out of the ute and walking for hours along the expressway and refuted claims he tailored his evidence after detectives spent the weekend filming that area with a drone.
He said he told police after his arrest that he had been "stitched up" because someone had gone through his bag while he was in Newcastle and his phone had gone missing.
"When I was told the allegation in the ACT in the cells I actually vomited into the cell and cried my eyes out for the poor family," Mr Hawkins said. "I did not commit the murder. "[Stuart] set me up and put me in the position I am in now. "He never asked me to [kill Mrs Klimovitch] or anything like that."
The trial continues.
STOCKTON MURDER TRIAL COVERAGE:
