A millionaire property developer has gone on trial for the second time over the murder of a Scottish businessman in Australia.
Ron Medich has been accused of arranging for his former business partner, Michael McGurk, to be shot dead outside his Sydney home after their relationship soured.
Mr McGurk, 45, originally from Glasgow, was killed by a single bullet to the head in front of his son, then aged nine, as he got out of his Mercedes in September 2009. The shooting happened outside his home in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Cremorne.
Mr Medich stood trial last year for the murder but a jury was unable to reach a verdict despite more than two weeks of deliberations and prosecutors won a court order to have him put on trial again. The 69-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McGurk and the subsequent intimidation of his widow, Kimberley, on August 8, 2010.
In her opening address at the New South Wales supreme court, Sharon Harris, for the prosecution, told the jury that Mr McGurk and Mr Medich had once been involved in multimillion-dollar business partnerships including property developments and financing.
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However, she said that by 2009 their relationship had become “extremely hostile” and they were locked in expensive legal battles.
She added: “The two men had a number of court cases against each other, in the federal and supreme courts, both claiming they had been ripped off by the other, each claiming they were owed millions of dollars.
“These disputes were a significant motive for the accused to direct the murder of the deceased in 2009 and then the intimidation of his wife in 2010.”
The court was told that one such feud erupted when Mr Medich discovered that the real cost of two development sites he had given Mr McGurk £3.5 million to purchase was in fact half that amount.
Mr Medich had developed a hatred for Mr McGurk, it was said, and turned to his close friend Fortunato “Lucky” Gattellari to “permanently resolve” the disputes by organising his murder.
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Gattellari has already been jailed over his involvement and received a discounted sentence after agreeing to give evidence against his co-accused. Three other men have also been convicted.
Prior to the opening of the case, Justice Geoffrey Bellew urged jurors to ignore the fact that Mr Medich was facing a second trial.