A bikie accused of orchestrating the fatal shooting of a rival gang member and encouraging the murder of two other people allegedly underpaid his contract killer.
David James Pye, 43, has pleaded not guilty to six charges, including the murder of senior Rebels bikie Nick Martin, who was shot dead at Perth Motorplex on December 12, 2020.
Pye, who was an outlaw motorcycle gang member, organised and paid for Martin to be shot in a sniper-style attack, prosecutor Justin Whalley SC told the Western Australian Supreme Court during his opening statement on Wednesday.
"The accused said words to the effect of, well, you do it, and offered (the shooter) $150,000," he said.
"(He) explained the history of antagonism and disagreement between himself and Nick Martin, including the belief that Nick Martin had put a contract out on the accused."
Pye later gave the shooter, a sniper-trained soldier, $50,000 cash as a pre-payment for the alleged murder.
Martin was shot dead while sitting in the racetrack's spectator area from a distance of more than 300 metres with a .308 calibre rifle.
The bullet travelled through his body and exited from his lower back before striking another man in his arm, seriously injuring him.
"(The shooter later) received a message from the accused on the encrypted message application Wire, and that message consisted of two coffin emojis and a hand clap emoji," Mr Whalley said.
"One dead, one serious."
The shooter later allegedly visited Pye's home, where his cash payment for killing was waiting for him in a Woolworths bag.
"He counted the money that the accused had just given him and he found it to total $50,000, which was half the amount that he'd been expecting," Mr Whalley said.
"He then messaged the accused words to the effect of 'there was only 50, I was expecting 100' to which the accused replied words to the effect of 'the other person didn't put in - it is what it is'."
The shooter was in 2021 sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to Martin's murder.
Unusually, the three-week judge-only trial has a glass wall dividing Justice Joseph McGrath, the lawyers and Pye from the courtroom's public gallery.
A heavy police presence was also outside the court building.
Pye, who was on home detention bail at the time in relation to alleged physical and sexual offending, also offered the shooter $380,000 to kill his accuser and dispose of her body, Mr Whalley said.
"(The shooter) declined to commit the murder ... on the basis that he thought it was a stupid idea," he said.
Pye, who had a heavily tattooed neck and a shaved head with a mullet, also allegedly offered the shooter $600,000 to kill a Comancheros gang member in Thailand.
"That conversation occurred in early 2021 and in a period in which the accused was defecting from the Comancheros OMCG and joining the Mongols OMCG," Mr Whalley said.
The murder never eventuated.
Pye's barrister David Hallowes SC said the shooter, who is scheduled to give evidence on Thursday, was a liar and "dishonesty courses through (his) veins".
"David Pye never suggested (to the shooter) to kill Nick Martin, he did not offer money to (him) to do this, nor did he pay him any money," he said.
"Pye did not send any message on the evening when (the shooter) killed Nick Martin."
Mr Hallowes also denied Pye asked the shooter to kill a fellow bikie, saying the six-and-a-half hours of recordings that will become trial evidence won't lead to a guilty verdict.
"The accused engages in colourful language and talks in a way that many might find offensive, but ultimately, we will be arguing that those old conversations that are recorded and what is heard don't assist the prosecution to prove their case," he said.
The trial continues on Thursday.