공개됨: 퍼스 바이커 두목 닉 마틴을 쏜 저격수의 정체가 마침내 밝혀지다

The identity of the man responsible for shooting the bikie from 365 metres away at Kwinana Motorplex in 2020 can now be revealed after the former soldier asked the courts to lift a suppression order.

A suppression order protecting the identity of the man who shot dead bikie boss Nick Martin in front of a crowd of thousands in 2020 has been lifted at the killer’s request.

It can now be revealed for the first time that Benjamin Johnson, a former FIFO electrician from Waikiki, is the man responsible for one of the most brazen and high-profile murders Western Australia has seen in the last century.

Johnson, 39, pleaded guilty to killing Martin and is serving a 20-year prison term in a secret high-security location. He was offered a light sentence in return for testifying against the man convicted of ordering him to carry out the killing – Martin’s bikie rival David Pye.

Since then, the former Army reservist, who volunteered in Iraq and Kurdistan, has written a “tell-all” book that is set to lift the lid on much of the bikie underworld that Johnson observed during his brief friendship with Pye.

On Friday, an application heard in WA’s Supreme Court to lift an order keeping his identity under wraps, with the court told the former soldier wanted to enrol in a health and science degree while incarcerated but was unable to because he needed to use his real name.

Johnson also claimed he held no fears for his safety and he was sick of using a fake name in prison, which also hindered his ability to have visitors, when the rest of the prison population already knew who he was.

However, Pye’s lawyer Paul Holmes said the bikie, who is awaiting sentencing, would be appealing his conviction and argued that lifting the suppression order could hinder that process if Johnson was killed and unable to give evidence at a possible re-trial.

But Justice Joseph McGrath said that was not a reason to maintain the order and granted the application, paving the way for Johnson to potentially participate in media interviews, television appearances and podcasts.

Details of Johnson’s life that were also previously suppressed from publication can now be revealed, including that the 39-year-old was in Iraq just 12 months before he killed Martin, providing medical training at a hospital.

He also volunteered with a charity called Shadows of Hope and assisted with the education of Kurdistani doctors.

Johnson was also an active member of the Australian Army Reserve’s artillery corp and began shooting air rifles in his mid-teens. He had a gun licence and kept a number of weapons at his Waikiki home.

Johnson was later treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and sought the drug MDMA to treat the condition, which is allegedly how he came into contact with Pye.

During Pye’s murder trial last year, Johnson told the court that the bikie boss asked him to kill Martin shortly after he turned down a request to kill Pye’s ex-girlfriend.

“He basically wanted to blow holes in him with a .357 [pistol],” the ex-soldier claimed.

Johnson told the court he agreed to “look into it”, considering the job for the paltry sum of $150,000.

He said he “tailed” Martin for weeks as he came and went from his house, trying to find a pattern of behaviour that would enable him to set up and carry out the kill.

He bought a drone, the court was told, and flew it over Martin’s house to assess his security set-up.

But Johnson later decided the best place to murder the 51-year-old was in front of 2000 people, in the dark, from 365 metres away.

He sat among some bushes, he said, on the far side of the Kwinana Motorplex on December 12, 2020, and watched Martin through the lens of his rifle.

Johnson claimed he turned off his phone and then took the shot, firing one bullet through Martin’s chest as he sat next to his wife, Amanda, his step-daughter Stacey, and a crowd of horrified friends and onlookers.

The bullet exited Martin’s back, brushing past the leg of his step-daughter’s boyfriend, Ricky Chapman, before embedding itself in Chapman’s arm. The then 31-year-old survived the shot but died 16 months later from an unrelated medical episode.

Johnson was caught soon after and quickly struck a plea deal, telling police he was paid to carry out the job.

But Pye’s lawyers told the court during his trial last year that Johnson was a pathological and compulsive liar.

During cross-examination, lies and exaggerations made about killing conquests were repeatedly exposed.

The trial also did not expose any real evidence connecting Pye to the killing, save for the soldier’s word, and while police bugged conversations between the pair, the conversations played in court fell short of ever hearing them both discuss the murder of Martin.

In contrast, prosecution argued Pye had the motive for wanting Martin dead.

Former friends and allies, the pair had become enemies after Pye defected from Martin’s Rebels gang to the Comancheros. The court was told that Martin wanted Pye dead as much as Pye wanted to return the favour.

But the trial was also told there were around 60 other people who also wanted Martin killed, and Pye’s lawyers took the opportunity to point the finger elsewhere.

Unlike any ordinary trial, this one was not heard in front of a jury, as it was decided that finding a group of unbiased people to decide Pye’s fate would be impossible. Instead, one man only was charged with deciding Pye’s fate.

Pye was also found guilty of inciting the former soldier to kill another rival bikie boss, Ray Cilli, who was living in Thailand.

Johnson told the court Pye had offered him $800,000 for that job, but he was arrested over Martin’s death before he could carry out the hit.

Pye was also found guilty of assaulting an ex-girlfriend and two counts of dealing with money that was intended to be used in an offence of murder.

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