By Tammy Mills
A meeting over a $50 debt led to an argument about an axe chase, a man being shot in the head and a gun buried in a Shepparton graveyard, a court has heard.
Douglas Weston agreed to meet Kyle Egan one early morning in June to discuss the debt. But travelling with Egan was Ronald Murray Forrester, whose brother Mr Weston had previously chased with an axe, Shepparton Magistrates Court heard.
Police at the scene of the shooting in Vaughan Street, Shepparton, in June.Credit: Shepparton News
Forrester argued with Mr Weston about the axe chase before shooting him in the head.
Forrester then buried the gun in the Shepparton cemetery.
Egan, 23, who was represented by lawyer Luke Slater, pleaded guilty to assisting Mr Forrester, 24, by disposing of his jacket after the fact.
Mr Forrester has pleaded guilty to recklessly cause serious injury.
Prosecutor Marwan El-Asmar told the court Egan was a passenger in the car when they went to meet the victim at 8.30am in Vaughan Street in June.
The pair had pulled up alongside Mr Weston, who was alone in a Holden Calais, and he and Forrester began arguing about the axe chase.
Mr Weston started to drive off when Forrester said "I will shoot you now then c***" and produced a firearm, Mr El-Asmar said.
He said Forrester tried to fire once and failed, but then fired a second shot at Mr Weston's car.
"The bullet went through the rear driver's side window and hit the victim to the top of his right eye," he said.
The bullet went behind Mr Weston's the nasal passage and lodged behind his left eye, where it remains.
"It may result in permanent loss of vision (if removed)," Mr El-Asmar said.
Mr Weston, 27, was able to jump out of his car and run to get help from a resident of a nearby unit.
Magistrate John O'Callaghan said Mr Weston could easily have been killed.
"But for the grace of God, that bullet could have pierced his brain and killed him," Mr O'Callaghan said.
Forrester and Egan will re-appear in court on November 30 for a directions hearing.