JAMIE Gao and Glen McNamara exchanged dozens of text messages in the lead up to the 20-year-old’s death inside a Padstow storage unit, including a bizarre series on the day of the alleged deadly drug deal.
Just moments after CCTV footage captured McNamara walking through Cronulla mall on May 20, 2014, which prosecutors allege was when he called Gao from a pay phone, he claims in a text to have food poisoning.
“Hey it was great having a drink last night, but I’m not in the mood to study today, I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch this afternoon,” Gao texted McNamara at 11.38am.
“No. I’m sick. Food poisoning. Can’t spend Tok much time away from the bathroom. I’ll call you in a couple of days,” McNamara replied.
“Oh wow that sucks, I guess since I have nothing better to do I’ll just catch up on my studies and spend time with the Mrs. I hope you get well soon, we can have another drink when I finish my exams,” Gao texted back.
The court has been told that less than two hours later the pair were seen seeing entering a Padstow storage unit together, with McNamara’s co-accused Roger Rogerson entering three minutes.
A short time later, the jury has heard, Gao was shot dead, and his body wrapped inside a silver surfboard cover.
McNamara’s counsel Kara Shead said in her opening address that McNamara met Gao during his work as a private investigator, and was subsequently using the university student as a source for a book he planned to write about the drug ice and its use in Asian triad gangs.
Both McNamara and Rogerson will give evidence during their defence cases, and will pin the execution on each-other, the jury has been told.
They have both pleaded not guilty to Gao’s murder and to taking part in the supply of 2.78kg of ice, which was allegedly brought to storage unit 803 of Rent A Space, Padstow.
The jury were shown a copy of text messages exchanged between McNamara and Gao, beginning from the time they met in January 2014.
In March, when Gao repeatedly postpones a meeting between the two, he apologises by saying “I’m slightly frantic at the moment”.
“All good. A man with your charm will have no problems,” McNamara texted back to him on March 20, 2014, exactly two months before the meeting inside the storage shed.
“Ha ha hopefully,” Gao replied.
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