A bikie who paid a trained sniper to assassinate a rival gang member at a Perth motorplex in front of horrified onlookers has been found guilty of his murder.
David Pye, 43, was today convicted in WA’s Supreme Court of the murder of his former friend, ex-Rebels boss Nick Martin, in December 2020.
He was also found guilty of trying to arrange the murders of his ex-girlfriend and another rival bikie, Raymond Cilli, who he had planned to get the same sniper to execute in Thailand.
David James Pye in 2013. (AAP Image: Angie Raphael)
It was the sniper’s testimony that proved critical in the case.
He detailed how he had been recruited by Pye, who had defected from the Rebels to the Comancheros, and “accepted the contract” to kill Martin for $150,000.
There was a noticeable police presence outside the court building in Perth’s CBD on Friday morning, with around a dozen armed and uniformed police surrounding the area near the entrance.
A group of police officers stationed themselves outside court ahead of the verdict.
(ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
Dressed in a black t-shirt and shorts, with tattoos visible on his neck, arms and head, Pye appeared by video link from Hakea prison, where he has been held since the end of his trial in October.
He shook his head slightly as the verdicts were read but showed little other emotion.
Meanwhile, a number of well-dressed women in the court, believed to be related to Martin, wept and hugged each other in apparent relief.
Family and friends of Nick Martin were in court for the verdict. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
Public assassination
The sniper, whose identity is suppressed, is serving a 20-year jail term for Martin’s murder, receiving a sentencing discount because he agreed to testify against Pye.
Nick Martin was shot dead as he watched racing at the Perth Motorplex. (ABC News: Hugh Sando)
The former Army reservist murdered Martin with a single bullet fired from a rifle more than 300 metres away as he sat with family and friends during a drag racing event at the Kwinana Motorplex on a warm summer’s night.
The bullet passed through Martin’s chest and hit Ricky Chapman, who was sitting behind Martin in the tiered seating of the motorplex, causing a deep laceration to his thigh before becoming lodged in his forearm.
Hitman tells Perth court he had killed before
The injury left Mr Chapman, who died on a mine site two years after the shooting, with limited movement in his arm, and Justice McGrath found Pye guilty of causing bodily harm.
After the fatal shot was fired, Pye sent the sniper coffin and clapping emojis, though he ultimately short-changed the hired killer, paying him $100,000 in wads of cash instead of the promised $150,000, the court heard.
The case was heard by Justice Joseph McGrath without a jury and amid unprecedented security at the courthouse.
Armed police surrounded the building on the first day of the trial as the police air wing helicopter circled overhead, while inside, a wall of glass separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.
A police helicopter circles above the Perth court complex on the first day of the trial. (ABC News)
The sniper gave evidence inside a separate glass cubicle that encased the witness box, as a phalanx of heavily tattooed bikies and supporters watched from the public gallery.
He told the court he was an experienced assassin who had worked in security for foreign-based charities in Iraq and Syria — and in these roles had carried out so many executions he had lost count.
Nick Martin’s assassin testifies from a glass box (top right) during the murder trial. ( (ABC News: Ruth Twardy)
At one point he was investigated by the Australian Federal Police for potential terrorist activities, but a secret police recording captured him telling Pye’s girlfriend he would “only kill a dude if it’s warranted”.
Allies turned enemies
Those same recordings captured Pye expressing his feelings towards Martin in no uncertain terms.
“Fat dog c***”, “poisonous c***” and a traitor who “wasn’t there for the club, he was there for himself”, Pye was heard to say of his former ally after he defected to the Comancheros, an act that sparked mutual hatred between the pair.
Loading…
Martin also hated Pye, the court heard, and had a tattoo of a bullet with Pye’s name on it inked on his back.
Pye’s defence had tried to undermine the credibility of the sniper, claiming he was a dishonest witness whose testimony was not reliable, and that there was no evidence Pye ever hired the contract killer.
But Justice McGrath found the sniper’s evidence to be “both credible and reliable”.
Sniper who killed bikie boss testifies against alleged mastermind
Pye had tried to engage him to kill his ex-girlfriend because she planned to testify against him in a separate criminal trial, but the sniper refused, telling him “I don’t kill women”.
However, he accepted a down payment of $345,000 to kill Mr Cilli, who was living in Thailand, but was arrested before the plan could be carried out.
Pye had been allowed out on bail for the duration of the trial after prison authorities refused to allow him access to his anti-anxiety medication, with Justice McGrath ruling it could be considered a miscarriage of justice if he was unable to follow proceedings because of it.
But he was returned to prison at the end of his trial in late October.
His sentencing hearing will be held later in the year.
‘Petty bikie politics’
In a media conference after the verdict, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said Martin’s murder took place in front of more than 2,500 people including children and families.
“It was a horrific display of bikie violence … as a result of petty bikie politics,” he said.
The police operation set up in response to the killing, Operation Ravello, involved almost 700 officers and other staff, and resulted in 271 people being charged, he said.
Commissioner Blanch said the verdict was a vindication of the police’s efforts over a five-year period.