OFF THE WIRE
Jodie Minus From: The Australian July 26, 2010
A NSW jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of a man accused of the execution killing of bikie gang member Todd O'Connor.
Hugo Jacobs, 28, was on trial in the Supreme Court for the shooting murder of O'Connor on a street at Tempe in Sydney in 2008.
O'Connor, 41, was an associate of Kings Cross nightclub entrepreneur John Ibrahim, whose character, played by actor Firass Dirani, featured in the most recent series of the Nine Network's Underbelly.
Father-of- four O'Connor was also portrayed in Underbelly 3: The Golden Mile as the tuxedo-wearing, balding doorman who carried Ibrahim to hospital after he had been stabbed in the stomach.
The jury had earlier been by Mr Jacobs' barrister, Philip Dunn QC, to put aside prejudice when hearing names of people who featured in the Underbelly television series.
Last Friday Justice Robert Shallcross Hulme directed the jury to try for a majority verdict of 11 to one.
The jury, of mostly young people aged under 30, returned this morning to announce it could not reach a verdict.
Justice Hulme set the retrial down for mention on August 6.
The mother, sister and aunt of O'Connor, who were in court, cried when they learned of the hung jury.
Mr Jacobs has applied for bail, which is opposed by police. The bail application was adjourned to later today.
Prosecutors alleged Mr Jacobs either shot O'Connor with the help of another person or arranged for two hit-men to carry out the job.
Crown prosecutor John Kiely SC said Mr Jacobs owed $300,000 to O'Connor, which was allegedly the motivation for him being being shot seven times in the body and three times in the head.
At the time of his death, O'Connor was under surveillance by the NSW Crime Commission and phone calls between him and Mr Jacobs were being intercepted.
