Daryl Coates SC says Shane Geoffrey Barker was a victim of intentional killing

Mr Coates began his summing up after nine weeks of evidence and more than 100 witnesses.

Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, of Swansea, have pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder on August 2, 2009. Mr Barker was found dead inside his Campbell Town home with four .22 bullets in his body. Mr Coates said the evidence showed that he was shot in the driveway just after arriving home at about 6.35 or 6.40pm.

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Mr Coates said the shooter picked up three cartridge cases but missed the fourth.

He said both accused could be found guilty.

"The Crown says the evidence overwhelmingly suggests the accused formed a joint unlawful common purpose to kill Mr Barker, and that is what they did," he said.

"You can convict both accused, although only one [Mr Jordan] pulled the trigger."

He said the couple had a motive, the opportunity, access to an unregistered .22 rifle and then told numerous concocted lies to cover their actions and suffered an acute emotional reaction after Mr Barker's death.

He said there was no doubt that Mr Barker was intentionally murdered, but the issue for the jury was whether it was the accused who committed it.

Mr Coates said the murder was not a loss of temper, a reaction, or a random act of violence.

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"Somebody went there at night with a gun and a silencer attached so that no one could hear, with the express intention of killing him by shooting him three times in the back and once in the chest," he said.

"You might think that for somebody to do such an awful thing they must have had a very good reason in their mind."

Mr Coates said both accused had a hatred of Mr Barker for allegedly raping their daughter [Rachel], molesting their granddaughter and delaying a financial settlement. They did not want him to have continued access to their granddaughter.

He said Mr Jordan had made threats to shoot Mr Barker and Mrs Jordan mentioned that if something happened to Mr Barker the first place police would look would be Rachel Jordan's place and then their place at Swansea.

Shooting colleagues heard Mr Jordan say that he had a bullet with Mr Barker's name on it.

Mr Coates said that ballistic evidence linked a cartridge case found at Mr Barker's home to cartridge cases found at a Jordan family property at Little Pine in the Central Highlands.

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He said the cartridge cases were fired by the same weapon which killed the deceased. He said the accused lied about the pump action rifle formerly owned by Mrs Jordan's father.

Mr Coates said the couple lied to police about their motive, lied about their whereabouts on the night of the murder and then when their stories unravelled they invented a preposterous story about a crowbar in case of any forensic evidence.

"The crowbar story put Cedric Jordan just a week before Mr Barker's death in the alleyway where the fired cartridge case was found," he said.

Mr Coates said that evidence showed the couple were extremely distressed after the murder.

"It's pretty unusual to be so distressed about someone you didn't like and had hardly seen for two years," he said.

He said that the defence would suggest alternative explanations but it was "not really a theory like Mrs McCracken [defence counsel Fran McCracken] likes to paint everything".

"This is not a theory this is the evidence," Mr Coates said about

Mr Coates said there was no evidence to suggest that anyone else had a motive to kill Mr Barker who he said was a well known and popular member of the community.

One of the key witnesses, Justin Titley, the former partner of Rachel Jordan, was a honest and reliable witness despite a likely suggestion that he lied because he was motivated by malice after the breakdown of his relationship with her.

"Most of the evidence he gave was caught on listening devices well before the separation or told shortly after the murder occurred," Mr Coates said.

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Mr Titley said that Mr Jordan referred to a .22 pump action rifle as a good rifle to get rid of somebody with and the family spoke of getting a hit man.

He said the defence may suggest that they were throwaway lines.

"It's a pretty big coincidence that Mr Titley talked about Shane Barker being shot and then all of a sudden he was," he said.

"What are the odds of that?"

Mr Coates said the accused were very close to their daughter and knew about her hatred for Mr Barker.

"Both accused wanted Mr Barker out of their daughter and granddaughter's lives," he said.

He said that the deceased was shot at a time when the accused were known to have been in the Campbell Town area with a .22 rifle and subsonic bullets.

He said the jury should consider how likely it was that somebody else with a strong motive would be at the scene at the exact time as the Jordans were in Campbell Town.

The summing up continues on Tuesday to be followed by Ms McCracken and defence counsel Patrick O' Halloran and Justice Robert Pearce.

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