Roger Rogerson lied to witnesses after Sydney student Jamie Gao was killed, but has never lied to the jury, his lawyer has claimed in closing submissions for the former policeman's almost four-month murder trial.
Rogerson and former colleague Glen McNamara have both pleaded not guilty to the shooting murder of Mr Gao in a Padstow storage unit on May 20, 2014.
The crown alleges the duo spent several months conspiring to rip Mr Gao off by stealing 2.78kg of the drug ice in his possession, then dump his body in the ocean near Cronulla to make him disappear.
George Thomas on Wednesday told the NSW Supreme Court jury Rogerson had admitted that after Mr Gao was killed - shot, he claims, by McNamara - the pair went to Kennards Hire to get equipment to move the body.
"He freely admitted he had spoken to the shop attendant about the lathe they wanted to move," Mr Thomas said, referring to the lie Rogerson told the witness.
"What was he supposed to tell the man - that he had been parachuted into a situation that involved a man being killed and that he was parachuted into this situation of the body having to be moved and lifted into a boat?"
Mr Thomas has also rejected evidence that Rogerson entered the Padstow storage unit where the murder is said to have taken place, three minutes after McNamara and Mr Gao, as evidence of a joint criminal enterprise.
"Why not just have Rogerson in the shed to start with so that he's in the shed ready for Gao to arrive and kill him, ambush him?" he said.
Mr Thomas urged the jury to reject claims by McNamara his involvement in Mr Gao's death was under duress because Rogerson had threatened his life and his family's lives.
He instead said McNamara's duress defence was a "fabrication" to explain both why he was seen on CCTV in the aftermath of the murder, and in possession of ice allegedly stolen from Mr Gao.
Defence closing submissions are continuing.
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