‘He’s a liar’: Bikie says sniper made up story that he was paid to shoot Nick Martin

A much-anticipated murder trial will not only detail how a Perth bikie boss was assassinated by a trained sniper five years ago, but also lays bare the alleged violent and lawless lives of Western Australia’s criminal underworld.

David James Pye, a member of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, is accused of paying a former soldier to shoot dead Nick Martin, head of rival gang the Rebels, at Kwinana Motorplex in 2020.

He denies the accusation but, during his opening address on Wednesday in the WA Supreme Court, prosecutor Justin Whalley, SC, told Justice Joseph McGrath that the state’s prime witness – an ex-soldier who has admitted carrying out the killing – would point the finger directly at Pye.

Whalley said the sniper, whose identity is suppressed, would tell the court Pye paid him to murder Martin and also asked if he would kill a former girlfriend and fellow Comanchero Ray Cilli.

Whalley claimed an Instagram message between the soldier and Pye in 2019 kicked off the chain of events that led to Martin’s death.

The sniper, who lived in Waikiki and had served in Iraq, had recently returned to Australia after volunteering for medical charities overseas and was suffering PTSD from his active service in the artillery corps.

Whalley told the court Pye reached out to the soldier to ask him about the veteran-run charity Shadows of Hope, which led to conversations about sourcing the drug MDMA, which the sniper believed he could use to treat his PTSD.

The pair met in person for the first time in mid-2020, during which Pye allegedly revealed to the 35-year-old that he was at the time on home detention bail over allegations of sexual assault against a former girlfriend.

Whalley claimed that Pye told the man his ex was in witness protection in the state’s north-west and allegedly offered the soldier $380,000 to kill her and dispose of her body.

“He told him it needed to look like she just disappeared, otherwise he would be prime suspect,” Whalley said.

“[The soldier] declined to commit the murder on the basis he thought it was a stupid idea, and he didn’t kill innocent women.”

But conversations between the pair continued, Whalley alleged, and on another occasion the soldier sold Pye some ammunition.

During the delivery of that ammunition in July of 2020, Whalley alleged Pye then started to talk to the soldier about Martin and the “history of antagonism and disagreement between them”, including Pye’s belief that Martin had put a contract out to have him killed.

Whalley then alleged that Pye asked the man to kill Martin, giving him $10,000 to scope out the situation.

The soldier was at the time out of work due to a workplace injury, had just launched a mobile coffee van business with his girlfriend and was in need of money, the court heard.

The man then “conducted reconnaissance of Nick Martin and his house”, Whalley said, and exchanged messages with Pye about what he had found, which included flying a drone over his home to analyse the security system.

But after he was told that Martin regularly attended drag-racing events at the Kwinana Motorplex, the soldier suggested he kill him at long range for the fee of $150,000.

On December 12, 2020 just after 8.30pm, Martin was fatally shot during a race meeting in front of his horrified family and members of the public.

A man sitting behind Martin was hit with the same bullet that exited Martin’s lower back. He underwent surgery but survived. He has since died of unrelated natural causes.

Whalley told the court Pye later text the soldier two coffin emojis and a hand clap.

“Was there two?” the soldier responded.

“One dead, one serious,” Pye allegedly responded.

He then allegedly told the soldier, “your money is here” before the sniper drove to a spot near his house, parked, and then rode a bike to Pye’s residence “in case it was under surveillance” to collect his pay.

But later, when he got home and counted the loot, Whalley said, the bag only contained half of what he was expecting.

“There was only 50 here. I was expecting 100,” Whalley says he messaged Pye.

“The other person didn’t kick in. It is what it is,” Pye allegedly responded.

Whalley said the killer didn’t press the issue and instead made a trip to Bunnings to buy some PVC pipe and a shovel and then took his dog for a walk and buried the bundles of cash in the pipes.

Some time after Australia Day in 2021, Whalley claims Pye then hit up the soldier again. This time to enlist him to murder fellow Comanchero Ray Cilli.

“He said his people were impressed with his killing of Nick Martin and asked him to kill Cilli in Thailand,” Whalley said.

“He paid him to look and do some preliminary research and showed him some photos of Cilli as he had no knowledge of him.”

Whalley said the sniper was initially offered $800,000 to do the job, to which the soldier said, “I’ll think about it”.

“[The soldier] did a bit of internet research and contemplated a few ways he could kill him,” Whalley claimed, adding that he later told the soldier that only $600,000 would now be available for the job after “a massive police drugs bust”.

The soldier then made a video, Whalley said, which he allegedly sent to Pye showing him how he could shoot Cilli from a static vehicle.

The killing was never carried out.

Pye denied the allegations, with his legal counsel David Hallowes, SC, telling the court the sniper was “a liar”, that Pye never suggested he kill his ex-girlfriend, and that he did not pay him to shoot Martin.

“The credibility of [the soldier] is central to this,” he said.

“The allegation came from [the soldier] and the prosecution’s case stands or falls on that.

“We say [the soldier] is a liar. We say dishonesty courses through the veins of [the soldier] and we’ll show that through our cross-examination of him.

The soldier is the prosecution’s first witness and will begin giving evidence on Thursday.

Other witnesses will include covert police officers revealing surveillance footage and recordings of Pye and the soldier.

The trial is heavily policed with armed officers outside the court entrance and, unusually, there is a glass wall dividing the judge, lawyers, and Pye from the rest of the public gallery in the District Court building.

Pye was escorted to and from court in a police vehicle with escorts that stopped traffic on Wednesday.

His trial, which is being presided over by a judge only, is due to last three weeks.