Melbourne underworld killer loses bid to overturn murder conviction
Melbourne underworld figure George Marrogi will remain in prison for more than three decades after a bid to overturn his murder conviction was dismissed.
The 34-year-old launched an appeal in March, arguing unrealistic police timelines and poor circumstantial evidence had landed him with a wrongful conviction over the shooting of Kadir Ors at a shopping centre in 2016.
Marrogi arrived at an Officeworks car park in a stolen red Holden Commodore on the afternoon of September 26, got out and fired 13 shots at Ors, killing him.
He faced four trials over the murder, with a jury finding him guilty in December 2021.
He was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
His lawyers claimed he may have been indirectly involved in the shooting, by providing the Commodore or bullets, but he did not pull the trigger.
They pointed to gaps in the prosecution’s circumstantial case during the murder trial, including issues with DNA evidence and their timeline of Marrogi’s movements after the shooting.
However, three Court of Appeal Justices rejected Marrogi’s appeal on Wednesday, finding it was open to the jury to convict him on the evidence.
“In our opinion, the evidence painted a compelling picture of guilt,” Justices Phillip Priest, Cameron Macaulay and Kim Hargrave wrote in their judgment.
“The contention that the jury’s verdict is unreasonable or cannot be supported by the evidence must be rejected.”
The judges said Marrogi’s DNA being found on a cardboard bullet box inside the Commodore was very significant and suggested he “handled the box very soon before the murder”.
Marrogi will not be eligible for parole until he is in his mid-60s, as his minimum jail term was increased by five years in February after he was caught running a drug empire with his girlfriend while in prison.
