![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/234745bd4728185116e9d41b06e90f37f7858ee9.png\")
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Updated February 20, 2026 \u2014 4:40pm,first published February 20, 2026 \u2014 2:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The family of Nick Martin, the bikie boss shot and killed at Kwinana Motorplex by a sniper rifle in December 2020, have released a statement just hours after the man accused of paying for the hit was found guilty in the Supreme Court of WA.<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of the Martin family we are grateful for the results today, although the result changes nothing for us as we still live with the pain of missing our Nick every day,\u201d the statement given to 9 News Perth said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are glad that the two weak, evil cowards who were behind taking him from us have received their justice.\u201d<\/p>\n David Pye, 43, appeared via video link to hear Justice Joseph McGrath\u2019s decision on Friday morning following his dramatic trial in October last year.<\/p>\n The case was dubbed \u201cthe trial of the century\u201d after he was accused of ordering the hit on Martin at Kwinana Motorplex in 2020.<\/p>\n The bikie denied being the person responsible for paying a former soldier to shoot Martin dead in front of thousands of people \u2013 and the only real evidence police had was the word of the man who carried out the killing.<\/p>\n The former soldier, who cannot be identified as his identity is suppressed, previously admitted to murdering Martin while he sat watching the races with his family, but the hitman said he was paid to do so by Pye, with whom he had struck up a friendship over drugs and his work overseas.<\/p>\n Pye emphatically denied the accusation and took the matter to trial, launching a security nightmare for police who escorted him to and from Perth\u2019s District Court daily with multiple armed vehicles and an armed helicopter watching his every move.<\/p>\n The building itself was also unusually heavily guarded throughout the trial, with multiple armed tactical response units watching each entry and exit point like hawks throughout the hearing.<\/p>\n The majority of the evidence in the case was the word of the former soldier who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for Martin\u2019s murder \u2013 significantly reduced on the basis he would testify against Pye.<\/p>\n The 39-year-old gave days of testimony from behind bullet-proof glass, claiming the bikie boss asked him to kill Martin shortly after he turned down a request to kill Pye\u2019s ex-girlfriend.<\/p>\n \u201cHe basically wanted to blow holes in him with a .357 [pistol],\u201d the ex-soldier claimed.<\/p>\n The soldier said he agreed to \u201clook into it\u201d, considering the job for the paltry sum of $150,000.<\/p>\n He said he \u201ctailed\u201d Martin for weeks as he came and went from his house, trying to find a pattern of behaviour that would enable him to set up and carry out the kill.<\/p>\n He bought a drone, the court was told, and flew it over his house to assess his security set up.<\/p>\n But the former soldier later decided the best place to murder the 51-year-old<\/a> was in front of 2000 people, in the dark, from 365 metres away.<\/p>\n Related Article He sat among some bushes, he said, on the far side of the Kwinana Motorplex on December 12, 2020, and watched Martin through the lens of his rifle. He claims he turned off his phone and then took the shot, firing one single bullet through Martin\u2019s chest as he sat next to his wife, Amanda, his step-daughter Stacey and a bunch of horrified friends and onlookers.<\/p>\n The bullet exited Martin\u2019s back, brushing past the leg of his step-daughter\u2019s boyfriend, Ricky Chapman, before embedding itself in his arm. The then 31-year-old survived the shot but died 16 months later from an unrelated medical episode.<\/p>\n The soldier was caught soon after and quickly struck a plea deal, telling police he was paid to carry out the job.<\/p>\n But Pye\u2019s lawyers told the trial the man is a pathological and compulsive liar.<\/p>\n During cross-examination, he was repeatedly exposed for lies he told and exaggerations made about killing conquests.<\/p>\n The trial also did not expose any real evidence connecting Pye to the killing, save for the soldier\u2019s word, and while police bugged conversations between the pair, the conversations played in court fell short of ever hearing them both discuss the murder of Martin.<\/p>\n In contrast, prosecution argued Pye had the motive for wanting Martin dead.<\/p>\n Former friends and allies, the pair had become enemies after Pye defected from Martin\u2019s Rebels gang to the Comancheros. It was said Martin wanted Pye dead as much as, allegedly, Pye wanted to return the favour.<\/p>\n But the trial was also told there were around 60 other people who also wanted Martin killed and Pye\u2019s lawyers took the opportunity to deflect the heat off their client and point the finger elsewhere.<\/p>\n Unlike any ordinary trial, this one was not heard in front of a jury as it was decided that finding a group of unbiased people to decide Pye\u2019s fate would be impossible. Instead, one man only was charged with deciding Pye\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n Pye was also found guilty of inciting the former soldier to kill another rival bikie boss, Ray Cilli, who was living in Thailand.<\/p>\n The sniper told the court Pye had offered him $800,000 to do the job, but he was arrested over Martin\u2019s death before he could carry out the hit.<\/p>\n On Friday, McGrath also told the court Pye was guilty of assaulting an ex-girlfriend and two counts of dealing with money that was intended to be used in an offence of murder.<\/p>\n Pye will be sentenced at a later date.<\/p>\n Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts<\/a> on email or turn on notifications in the app.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f142766ec3d2fdc70c6229f01c4a5a3e0e45c58dcd38d934e21a5977ba0ae6e2.jpeg\")
A court sketch of bikie David Pye, who is accused of paying a former soldier to shoot Martin.Anne Barnetson<\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ef31c71aa9ff93f28f7934475285ebb6c1d360a0.gif\")
Nick Martin was killed by a sniper at the Perth Motorplex in December 2020. WAtoday<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6ccecbd17777ad7ad2c31c557f24688af164b1fdc2bb865a67e395941df4e312.jpeg\")
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