A man accused of shooting dead a young woman in the bedroom of a house in Melbourne's north-west denied having picked up the loaded sawn-off shotgun and pulling the trigger, a court has heard.
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Defence barrister Wayne Toohey told a Supreme Court jury on Monday that Jovan Jojic was not even in the bedroom when the loud shot "rang out in the night" killing 20-year-old Sarah Johnson Portelli.
Mr Jojic has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter over Ms Johnson Portelli's death on April 6, 2013.
In his opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Mark Rochford, QC, said Mr Jojic, Ms Johnson Portelli, Emilija Dilber and another man, who cannot be named, had been in a bedroom using the drug ice and playing music.
Mr Rochford said at one stage during the night a handgun and sawn-off shotgun were produced in the bedroom.
Mr Rochford said Ms Portelli was sitting on the side of a Queen-sized bed talking when Mr Jojic fired the shotgun, hitting her to the right side of the head and killing her.
He claimed Mr Jojic and Ms Dilber then left the bedroom as Ms Portelli was lying on the floor.
The prosecutor said the other man called out to Mr Jojic, asking him "What have you done?" before Mr Jojic fired another shot into the floor in the hallway. The shotgun pellets ricocheted off the floor and hit the other man in the left leg.
Mr Jojic then allegedly left the house with the shotgun and the handgun.
The other man's brother tried to help Ms Portelli before calling triple 0.
Police and paramedics arrived to find Ms Johnson Portelli dead from a shotgun wound to the head.
Mr Rochford said two eyewitnesses who had been in the bedroom at the time would give evidence that Mr Jojic had been holding the shotgun when it discharged and hit Ms Johnson Portelli.
But Mr Toohey told the jury Ms Johnson Portelli's senseless death had been a "most dreadful, tragic and sad event" but Mr Jojic had not even been in the bedroom when the shot was fired.
He said Mr Jojic had been standing at the kitchen sink when Ms Johnson Portelli was shot.
Mr Jojic also denied firing a second shot, saying he knew nothing about both shots.
Mr Toohey said when Mr Jojic saw Ms Dilber leave the bedroom in fear and in a panic, he became afraid, panicked and left the house.
The defence barrister said the handgun and shotgun were already in the house when Mr Jojic arrived.
"The defence says that the prosecution case is built on witnesses who are untruthful and unreliable," Mr Toohey said.
The trial, before Justice Michael Croucher, continues.
