Marc Urlich, the Victorian man accused of helping his brother dump a dead man's body, gave alibi evidence on Thursday in the hopes of avoiding a Supreme Court trial on a charge of accessory to murder.
On November 19, 2015, police found 52-year-old Andrew Carville's body in a dry creek bed on Defence land in Majura. It was wrapped in a black and white rug and hidden with rocks and branches.
Police say Milan Urlich, 29, had strangled Mr Carville.
It's alleged that several days before the body was discovered, on November 13, Marc Urlich went to Canberra alone from his home in Phillip Island, Victoria. He stopped in Bombala, where police say he bought a phone and sim card.
Police allege he gave the phone to his brother at his home in Spence and together they moved Mr Carville's body before dumping Milan Urlich's ute at Molonglo Gorge, in Kowen Pine Forest.
At the scene, not far from where the ute was dumped, police found a branded lighter from the Westernport Hotel. The hotel is about 10 kilometres from Marc Urlich's house.
Urlich, 44, a director of a BMX company, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to Mr Carville's alleged murder and interfering with a body.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
On Thursday, Urlich, dressed in a checked flannel shirt, dark blue Levi's and skate shoes, appeared in a Canberra court for a contested committal hearing before Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter.
He gave a markedly different version of events.
Led by defence barrister Theo Alexander, Urlich described a distant but friendly relationship with his "handful" of a half-brother Milan, one of six younger half-siblings.
Milan had recently started visiting him in Victoria, Urlich said. One day, on one of these visits, they had a beer at the Westerncourt Hotel, and Urlich remembered his brother asking the table nearby for a light to smoke.
Urlich said on the last visit, he had agreed to drive Milan to Canberra to get his identification documents and collect cash he said he was owed, with the understanding Milan would return to Victoria and get his life sorted. Urlich said he was worried Milan would "piss off" and disappear if he went alone.
They had been talking about him getting off drugs.
Urlich said he gave Milan, who was "hopeless" and often lost his phone, a spare, and bought a cheap sim card for him on the way back to Canberra.
On the night police allege Urlich helped move Mr Carville's body, Urlich says he was alone, asleep, in the Ibis Styles Canberra Eaglehawk.
He said the pair had arrived in Canberra after 10pm on November 13, and he had dropped his brother in the company of a friend at what looked like a housing commission. Urlich said he was told via text message from Milan to "sit tight til the morning".
The court heard the friend, later identified as Brett French, had made a statement to police saying he had seen the brothers drive off together.
"He's one hundred per cent lying," Urlich said.
Urlich booked into the motel after trying another one and finding it full. The next morning, he drove back to Victoria alone, believing his brother, who was now not answering his phone, had already left after sending him a text saying "hey sexy I'm halfway back to yours".
Did you help your brother move a dead body? his barrister Mr Alexander asked.
"No. One hundred million per cent no," Urlich said. He denied any knowledge of Mr Carvill's alleged murder or of his brother's alleged involvement.
He said once arrested he urged Milan to talk to police.
"My life is in your hands," Urlich said he told his half-brother. "You need to go speak to them, and tell them what you know."
In cross-examination, prosecutor Rebecca Christensen asked Urlich why, knowing he would arrive after 10pm, he had not booked a room, or had not asked his family if he could stay the night.
He said he hadn't intended to hang around.
Urlich told the court he and his brother had not talked about why they were at the flats, or where Milan would find his identification documents.
"You chose to leave him there and drive away?" Ms Christensen asked. Urlich agreed he had.
The matter will return on March 15, when Ms Hunter will either commit Urlich to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court, or discharge the offences.