Yangebup gun heist: Former Attorney-General Christian Porter’s first trial since retiring delayed due to COVID

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter’s first trial since he retired from politics has been delayed for a week because of COVID. Mr Porter, whose seat of Pearce is considered one of the major battlegrounds of the Federal Election, is representing Ashley Christensen, one of the men accused of pulling off a “highly-sophisticated” gun heist in Yangebup in 2019. The trial, which was estimated to take between four to six weeks, started on Monday but jurors were told on Thursday it would be adjourned for one week after a lawyer involved in the matter tested positive for the virus. The case against Mr Christensen and his co-accuseds, James Egan and Nicholas Ronzitti, is expected to resume on May 26. The trio are accused of breaking into Claremont Firearms in Yangebup on November 21, 2019 and stealing more than 200 guns including several semi-automatic weapons, shotguns and rifles by gaining access to the store’s vault via holes that had been cut in the concrete walls of neighbouring businesses. They are also accused of carrying out reconnaissance of the area and setting up camera surveillance of the store in the weeks before the brazen robbery. CCTV footage showing two people dressed in dark clothing allegedly scoping out the facility on two occasions prior to the heist was played to the jury this week. Prosecutors allege the people in the footage are two of the accused. The court was also told a few days after the robbery, a man going for a walk in Beeliar national park discovered some of the stolen guns buried in the ground. He called police who later discovered various items that had been stolen from the store in six different holes. The three men are also accused of stealing a vehicle, a Toyota Hilux, from another business to use in the robbery. That car was later found burnt out nearby. The trial will resume next week.