A key witness in the case of the theft of $200,000 worth of televisions from Chadstone Shopping Centre last year told a Melbourne court he mistakenly accused an associate of a gangland figure and wanted to change his statement.
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Savvacis Tsivicos, 41, also a Bandidos Motorcycle Club associate, is accused along with Antonio Vassiaris, 43, and Peter Mai, 32, of stealing 110 Sony televisions from the centre on November 1 after pretending to be Harvey Norman staff picking up the property for a promotion the next day.
Mr Mai is also charged with possessing a prohibited weapon, dealing with property that is the proceeds of crime and possessing a drug of dependence.
Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard on Monday a key witness to the theft, a delivery driver, recognised one of the men he knew as "Sav" at the Toll loading dock on the day.
The court heard the witness had met "Sav" 10 to 12 years earlier at the wake of Melbourne gangland member Benji Veniamin.
Toll security manager William Turner said the witness told him that these "guys were bad" and the fact "Sav" was there "meant it was not going to be good".
"That was why he was reluctant to talk to me, that these people were bad," Mr Turner told the court.
But in a surprise backflip during Monday's contested committal, the witness told the court he was "very confused" when he gave the statement and accused the wrong man of the theft.
He said he was suffering depression after his wife and children left him and that he was intimidated into giving a statement to police and wrongly identified "Sav".
"I realised maybe I made a mistake," he told the court.
"I refused to sign this document (statement) at the station, but I was threatened with a court order to sign it."
Crown prosecutor Michael Roper questioned the "genuineness" of the confusion.
"He knew his name, he picked him out in a photo board, he went up to him and shook his hand," Mr Roper said.
Mr Roper said the suggestion he was intimidated by police was a "very serious suggestion to make".
The witness told the court he did not want to give evidence on the grounds of self-incrimination, but was directed by Magistrate Simon Garnett to undergo cross-examination.
The cross-examination of the witness will begin on Tuesday in the second day of the contested committal hearing.
Mr Tsivicos, Mr Mai and Mr Vassiaris were all present in court.
