A bullet that hit a man leaving him with a "significant amount of blood" was "just a fluke" because the accused gunman was firing random shots and not aiming the gun to kill, a witness has told a court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The witness, Sarah Avison, was with the accused gunman Christopher Cunningham and another man, Alex Dimitrov, at a Theodore premises in March 2019 when Mr Cunningham allegedly shot a rifle about half a dozen times towards a group.
Mr Cunningham, 34, is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm and unauthorised possession of a gun.
The Calwell man also entered the same plea to firing a gun to cause fear to a person, a back-up charge to the bodily harm charge.
The court had heard that the alleged victim, Graham O'Neil, and about five others went to the house after a birthday party to talk with Mr Dimitrov about a debt.
Upon arrival, the alleged victim started calling out for him but was told "the police are coming".
The group turned around and began to leave when Mr Cunningham allegedly shot once into the air, prompting the group to run, before firing about half a dozen bullets towards them.
Mr O'Neil's right thigh was hit by one of the bullets that Mr Cunningham allegedly fired, resulting in hospitalisation.
On Wednesday, the court heard that during her interview with police, Ms Avison said the shots were random because the accused "wasn't aiming it at Graham".
"He wasn't trying to kill ... it was just random shots," she said.
"It was just a fluke really that he got shot."
"I didn't see anyone drop or anyone get hurt, it just looked like everyone ran away."
Her statements to police also included that "it was just like warning shots pretty much".
MORE NEWS
Asked by defence lawyer Margaret Jones SC about her statements, Ms Avison said: "I heard the bang, bang, bang so I just assumed it was random shots, but I didn't actually watch them shoot".
"As soon as I heard the shooting, I ran inside," she said.
Ms Avison told the court that she initially came out of the house because she heard "all the noise", which included "Graham going off".
"He was just yelling, being a bit of a hero ...and carrying on," she said.
"I remember saying to him to 'just chill out' and go talk to them."
She described the group of visitors as "very rowdy" and "all revved up and rude".
During his opening statement on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Marcus Dyason said there would be evidence that Mr O'Neil's friends were left panicked.
"It's probably understandable - their friend had just been shot and there was a significant amount of blood coming from his leg," he said.
For the grievous bodily harm charge, the Crown also relies on the statutory alternative of recklessly, rather than intentionally, inflicting it.
The trial before Justice David Mossop continues.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
