“I think I’m going to start murdering people … the next c— that crosses me … I’ll just start murdering c—s.”
Nick Martin and his wife Amanda.Credit: 9News Perth
The assault charges were later dropped by police.
Earlier in the trial, a suppression order prohibiting the publication of bombshell evidence from the man allegedly hired by Pye to kill Martin was lifted.
It pertained to evidence given last Friday, where the ex-soldier admitted he also carried out other targeted assassinations.
The man, whose identity has been suppressed since he was arrested in 2021, made the sensational admission after the judge presiding over the case granted him immunity, meaning his evidence could not be used against him.
The former soldier has already pleaded guilty to killing Martin and received a reduced sentence for testifying against Pye in the judge-alone trial.
Loading
A certificate of immunity was granted to also protect him from prosecution over potential war crimes, after it was also revealed the Australian Federal Police interviewed him in 2021 in relation to “foreign incursion or terrorism offences”.
The 39-year-old’s evidence is critical to the prosecution’s case, which alleges Pye paid the former soldier $150,000 for the hit on Martin.
During cross-examination on Friday, David Hallowes, SC, repeatedly attempted to expose the man as a “compulsive liar” before exposing inconsistencies he had given to the police in a statement compared to recorded conversations with friends.
However, when he was pressed on the issue of whether Martin was the first person he had killed, the soldier said he could not answer the question without incriminating himself.
The court later heard the man had previously said he had killed so many people, he didn’t know the number.
“Is this something you’re familiar with, building book, making book on targets?” Hallowes asked the man on Friday.
“Yes,” he replied.
“It’s something you’ve done over many years, is it?” – “Yes.”
“Have you done it in Australia or have you just done it overseas?” – “Overseas.”
“Is it the case that in the past you have done reconnaissance on a target and then killed the target?” – “I’ve done reconnaissance on targets. I’ve not necessarily engaged them afterwards.”
David Pye’s lawyer Paul Holmes and barrister David Hallowes, SC, outside court.Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt
“So, just to be clear, there have been occasions where you have done reconnaissance on a target and having done that reconnaissance then carried out the execution?” – “Yes.”
The man also gave evidence that he had once shot someone from the inside of a car through a window.
Loading
A recorded conversation between the man, an unknown associate, and Pye was played in court on Monday, in which the sniper was asked if any of the killings he had carried out haunted him.
“No. F— it,” he replied in the recording.
When asked how many people he had killed, the man said he did not know.
“Because when you kill someone, you’re like, ‘I don’t feel nothing’,” he was heard saying.
“And then you’re like, ‘I should feel something’. I’m the normal – ‘Oh, what’s wrong with me?’
“You know, in movies they freak out.”
The former soldier also testified that he would “only kill a dude if it’s warranted”, and then said during his time in conflict arenas overseas he would capture people and “we give them to the locals, and they kill them”.
Hallowes read out portions of the man’s police statement taken in September 2021, in which he said, “I have not travelled to Syria and I haven’t killed anyone else”.
“It’s just completely wrong, isn’t it?” Hallowes asked.
“Yes,” the man replied, before going on to explain he believed the police misinterpreted his words in the statement, which he later corrected to state that he had killed others before Martin.
The trial continues.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
