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4 ILLAWARRA MERCURY, Thursday April 3, 2014 www.illawarramercury.com.au

mercury news 4

Court hears Splasheskilling a family feud

DRAGAN SEKULJICAFleeing: Footage of the suspect leaving Novotel on the night of shooting.

THE Supreme Court trial of fourmen accused of planning andcarrying out the 2007 Splashesnightclub shooting has begun inSydney, with jurors told thealleged catalyst for the killing wasan unpaid debt that spiralled intoa feud between two Wollongongfamilies.

In his opening statements to thejury, Crown prosecutor Pat Barretttold the court Dragan Sekuljicawas first shot at while trying to getinto a taxi outside the Cliff Roadnightclub just before 3am onSeptember 8, 2007.

Mr Sekuljica ran back into theclub but was followed by thegunman, who fired the fatal shotsinside the premises, before flee-ing in a waiting car.

Mr Barrett told jurors during thecourse of the trial they wouldlikely hear that the origin of theshooting was a falling out overmoney allegedly owed to MrSekuljica by one of his accusedkillers, Dalibor Bubanja.

The Crown alleges Bubanja,along with Jason Hristovski andtwo other men, who can only bereferred to as ‘‘C’’ and ‘‘M’’ forlegal reasons, had planned to killMr Sekuljica, and played differentparts in organising and carryingout the crime.

All four men have pleaded notguilty to charges of murder andshoot with intent to murder.

A fifth man, Justin Irwin, actedas the driver for the allegedshooter, M. Jurors were told Mr

Irwin has been given immunityfrom prosecution in return forgiving evidence against his fouralleged accomplices.

On Wednesday, Mr Barrett toldjurors during the course of thetrial they would likely hear thatMr Sekuljica and Bubanja had hada falling out over money allegedlyowed to Mr Sekuljica by Bubanja.

Mr Barrett said the disputedeveloped into a deep feud thatdivided Wollongong’s Serbiancommunity.

‘‘It became well known amongpeople associated with the twogroups that there was this dislike,this dispute between them,’’ hesaid.

Mr Barrett said in late August2007 the dispute escalated, cul-

minating in a meeting betweenBubanja and Mr Sekuljica at theNorth Wollongong Hotel involvinga heated discussion in the beergarden.

The court heard some of theaccused met at other Wollongonglocations after that to discuss whatwas to happen to Mr Sekuljica, andthe decision was made to kill him.

C allegedly recruited M to carryout the shooting, and enlisted MrIrwin as the driver.

Mr Barrett said jurors wouldlikely hear evidence from MrIrwin that on the night of thekilling he and M picked up arevolver and dark clothing beforeheading to the nightclub.

Once there, with Bubanjaproviding surveillance of Mr

Sekuljica, it is alleged M emergedfrom behind nearby bush andfired ‘‘two to three’’ shots towardsMr Sekuljica and two other men asthey were about to enter a taxiparked on Cliff Road.

Mr Sekuljica fled back insidethe club, pursued by the shooter,who fired a further two shotsinside the premises, fatallywounding Mr Sekuljica and hittinga security guard in the arm.

He then ran towards the waitingcar, driven by Mr Irwin, who thenallegedly took him back to hisSydney home.

Mr Barrett said jurors will alsohear M was paid about $20,000 tocarry out the shooting.

The trial, before Justice RobertHulme, continues.

Council’screek talkraises hopeBEN LANGFORD

Talks: Gordon Bradbery and council representatives with Kembla Street residents. Picture: CHRISTOPHER CHAN

RESIDENTS of the southern endof Kembla Street have finallywon hope of some relief, withWollongong City Council commit-ting to clean out and concretepart of the clogged creek thatmany blame for making floodsworse.

Several residents met withcouncil officers and the LordMayor on Wednesday afternoon,and after passionate and some-times angry conversations, didnot feel they got very sympathetichearing. But they did get somewelcome news, that councilwould act within six months.

The council plans to spendabout $250,000 clearing out thecreek behind the houses on theeast side of Kembla Street, andwhich is regularly overgrownwith reeds and other vegetation.

Plans also include building aconcrete ‘‘apron’’ upwards fromSwan Street culvert, and concret-ing the banks of the creek – in all,a concreted channel extendingabout 20m up the creek, to thelimit of the land, which thecouncil owns.

On Wednesday a dozen resid-ents and business owners voicedtheir concerns to Lord MayorGordon Bradbery, council’s dir-ector of works and infrastructureMike Hyde, and council’s seniorfloodplain management engineerPeter Garland.

They were angry they had beenflooded with sewage overflowlast Monday, in an identical fash-ion to flooding in February 2012.There were arguments aboutwhether council should takemore responsibility for cleaningthe creeks.

Mr Garland said the councilwas restrained by environmentalrules from cleaning out thecreeks, as they were habitat forthe vulnerable green and goldenbell frog.

But the new works would gothrough an environmental im-pact assessment, as the impact of

flooding on residents had in-creased.

He said the work would becompleted within a year.

‘‘It’s been escalated,’’ he said.‘‘It’s clearly evident ... the so-

cial [impact] is taking over fromthe environmental and thedesign,’’ he said.

Swan Street resident LindaHogg welcomed the move butsaid the ‘‘real issue’’ is whethercouncil would regularly cleanout the culverts, as the build-upof silt clogged the waterway.

Cr Bradbery said the works hadalready been budgeted for and

was not a reaction to the resid-ents’ anger. He said the wholearea would be revisited.

Long-time Kembla Street res-ident Tony Virtu did not appreci-ate being told he lived in a ‘‘floodzone’’, and earlier had an angryconfrontation with Mr Garlandand Mr Hyde, who told him it wasindeed a flood zone.

There was ‘‘nothing said aboutflood zones in 1998’’, when hebuilt his house.

Mr Virtu said the channel wasgood news, but there were moreproblems with water blockagesfurther downstream.

Tough times tippedTREASURY secretary Martin Par-kinson has warned that a trifectaof weak productivity growth, fall-ing terms of trade and an ageingpopulation does not bode well forAustralian living standards.

Just weeks out from TreasurerJoe Hockey’s first budget, DrParkinson told the Sydney Insti-tute on Wednesday that govern-ment revenues could not ‘‘magic-ally’’ return to the levels seenbefore the 2008-09 global financialcrisis.

At the same time, growth inexpenditure on social programswould place added pressures onfiscal sustainability over the dec-ades ahead. AAP

Gold anniversaryWARILLA North PublicSchool will mark its 50th an-niversary on Saturday with aday of celebration at theschool, with past and presentstudents, families and staff allinvited.

The fun day runs from 11amto 2pm and includes a sausagesizzle, bush dance and mem-orabilia display.

On Friday students will en-joy a ’60s themed day and aschool concert, while on Sat-urday night there will be adinner for past and presentstaff.

Charges over eelsAN Eden commercial fishermanallegedly found with more than200 illegally taken live eels isfacing a possible jail term.

Department of Primary Indus-tries acting director fisheries com-pliance, Patrick Tully, said theman, 48, was allegedly found inpossession of 216 eels, 11 commer-cial traps and a large keeper pen.He said the man was apprehendedon the Towamba River at Kiah.

The man faces charges of unlaw-ful use of fishing gear, possessingfish illegally taken, contraveningendorsement conditions and fish-ing in waters protected from com-mercial fishing. Each charge car-ries a maximum penalty of up to$22,000 or six months’ jail, or both.

Lines to be restoredTELSTRA is working to repair anumber of phone lines and inter-net connections in Bulli and Cor-rimal damaged by last week’s wildweather.

Telstra area general managerfor the Illawarra, Mike Marom,said equipment in Bulli was flood-ed and Telstra was awaiting partsfrom overseas to repair the dam-age.

Also, a Telstra box in Corrimalwas hit by lightning.

About 200 customers’ serviceswere affected and about half ofthem had been repaired.

It is planned to restore servicesto the remaining customers by theend of the week.

Harbour closureBOATIES are reminded tokeep clear of ShellharbourBoat Harbour and Cowrie Is-land on Sunday when theShellharbour Surf Life SavingClub Ocean Swim takes place.

Roads and Maritime Ser-vices has granted an exclusiveuse aquatic licence for theevent from 10am to 10.30am asa safety precaution.

The exclusive area will ex-tend from the entrance of theharbour to the Tasman Seaand will also be defined by alarge red buoy east of thelocation.