A Waverley man wept when he told police in an interview that an attack on Alexander Robert Friend in 2018 was brutal and should never have happened.
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Sammual Clinton Wilmot, 27, was called to give evidence in the trial of Corey Mitchell Gesler.
Mr Gesler has pleaded not guilty to the aggravated armed robbery of Mr Friend on January 9-10, 2018, and to doing an unlawful act with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm by punching him to the face, head and body, elbowing him to the head and striking him with a wooden baton (a chair leg0 and kicking him to the face, head and body.
The Crown asserts that Mr Friend was invited to Mr Wilmot's Waverley unit where four men had hatched a plan to rob him of cash and drugs.
The Crown said Mr Friend was bashed and removed from the unit before falling out of a utility onto a road.
Being led in his evidence by crown prosecutor Tamila Smith, Mr Wilmot repeatedly denied any memory of the bashing.
He repeatedly said he could not remember because he was heavily intoxicated on drugs at the time.
He also responded, "dunno", "can't remember" and "wouldn't have a clue" to questions from Ms Smith.
After an application to Justice Robert Pearce, Ms Smith was given leave to play excerpts of Mr Wilmot's interview with police on January 12, 2018.
The jury saw a number of excerpts of the police interview after which Ms Smith asked Mr Wilmot questions in the witness box.
In an interview, he said told police that Mr Gesler and another man Clinton Wilson arrived at his unit on the night via a motorcycle.
He also agreed that he had asked Mr Friend to attend the unit on the night.
"Are you prepared to tell us who the mate is that came over on the road bike?" an officer asked.
"I'm going to have to, I don't want to get in the shit, Corey Gesler and Clinton Wilson," he told police.
He said he had known both men most of his life.
"They arrived together?" police asked .
"Yep," he said.
When asked by Ms Smith if it was him in the interview, Mr Wilmot answered "obviously" but said he could not remember anything more.
In the interview, Mr Wilmot said that Mr Gesler jumped up and started hitting Mr Friend when Mr Friend pulled money and drugs out of a shopping bag.
"I suggest to you that is what happened," Ms Smith said.
"You can suggest all you like doesn't mean it is true," he said.
He told police that "Mr Gesler started and wouldn't stop and punched him a fair few times".
"I tried to stop it but they told me to sit down and that they would come and hit me if I did not listen," Mr Wilmot told police.
He told police that Mr Wilson was holding Mr Friend down.
But in court, he answered "no" when asked by Ms Smith if that was what happened.
He said "I don't agree with none of it" when asked about a statement to police about Mr Gesler elbowing Mr Friend to the back of the head while Mr Friend was on the floor.
Mr Wilmot broke down in the interview holding his head in his hands when describing the alleged attack.
"It was brutal and shouldn't have happened," he told police.
He told police that Mr Gesler assaulted Mr Friend with a wooden chair leg from his unit that Wilmot had written on with green Texta.
When Ms Smith asked him in court if that is what happened Mr Wilmot said "can't remember, don't agree with it".
Justice Pearce addressed Mr Wilmot saying: "I am conscious of what you are saying."
"At the end of this trial I will be telling the jury that it is up to them whether what you told them was true or not," he said.
Mr Wilmot told police that Mr Gesler and Mr Wilson collected clothes and drugs and rode off on a road bike after the incident.
He denied a suggestion from Ms Smith that the incident lasted 10 to 15 minutes.
During the interview, he was asked by police why the unit had been cleaned up.
"I was fearful for my safety ... I'll go to jail," he said.
Ms Smith asked Mr Wilmot if he was fearful he would get killed by the people involved.
"That's why you did not say in this court today what happened?" she asked.
"No," Mr Wilmot said.
"You are scared of Mr Gesler and Mr Wilson," she asked.
"No," he said.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Patrick O Halloran, Mr Wilmot agreed that he had been part of the planning of the incident and had pleaded guilty and been sentenced for aggravated armed robbery and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.
He agreed he had a number of assaults on his criminal record.
Mr O'Halloran asked Mr Wilmot.
"The truth is that on January 9-10, 2018, that Corey Gesler had no involvement in the assault on Mr Friend," he asked.
"True," Mr Wilmot said.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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