A MAN accused of robbing drug dealer David King in the moments before he tried to flee and was shot dead at Salt Ash was recorded allegedly planning the "drug rip", asking a woman if she could get him "someone to mug" and whether she knew "DK out at the Bay".
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The recorded phone conversations were played to the jury yesterday during the trial of Elijah Cage, Max Lowcock and Tyson Stamp, who are accused of murdering Mr King.
Mr King, a 45-year-old mid-level methamphetamine dealer from Tanilba Bay, was killed when he was shot once at close range while behind the wheel of a ute in Hideaway Drive on August 29, 2021.
The trio of Mr Cage, Mr Lowcock and Mr Stamp have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr King as well as kidnapping the woman who brokered the drug deal and witnessed the shooting.
It is the prosecution case that Mr King was shot by either Mr Cage or Mr Lowcock, who were in the car with him at the time he was gunned down, while Mr Stamp was waiting nearby in a hired Hyundai Santa Fe.
The trio are accused of conspiring to rob Mr King and allegedly used the woman as an intermediary because she had a close friendship with Mr King, Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw has said.
But Mr Shaw said the trio did not go to Salt Ash with the intention of shooting Mr King, instead intending to rob him while armed with a shortened shotgun.
Yesterday, the jury heard a number of recorded phone conversations between Mr Cage and a woman from earlier on the day of the shooting that Mr Shaw has said showed Mr Cage was in the "early stages of planning the armed drug rip".
During the first call, at 7.17am, Mr Cage is asked what he is doing and replies: "we're going to try and find some money to get some G", a reference to a drug known as liquid GHB, the woman said.
When the woman asked if Mr Cage could get her some, he replied: "Yeah, can you get me someone to mug?"
The woman laughed it off and then Mr Cage is recorded asking: "Oi, do you know DK out at the Bay?"
In a later conversation, at 11.13am, the woman asks Mr Cage if he got any "drink", a reference to liquid GHB.
"Um we've actually swapped rips, we're doing another rip," Mr Cage is recording replying.
Under cross-examination from Public Defender Angus Webb, for Mr Cage, the woman said she had a "jokey" relationship with Mr Cage and the question about "mugging" came out of the blue and she thought he was joking.
"I've never heard him talk like that before," the woman said.
The trial continues.
