A man accused of deliberately fatally shooting his girlfriend in the head has told a Supreme Court jury he was looking after the gun for drug dealers and did not know it was loaded.
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Nelson Lai was giving evidence in his defence on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to murdering Rekiah O'Donnell.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Grant has told the court Mr Lai, 34, subjected Ms O'Donnell, 22, to constant abuse, violence and threatening and controlling behaviour before shooting her in the head in his bedroom at Sunshine North just before 9am on October 11, 2013.
Mr Lai told the jury on Tuesday how the couple, both ice users, were "kicking back in my room" when he reached behind his bedhead and grabbed the gun.
He claimed to have been given the gun by a friend to keep safe for drug dealers paranoid they were going to be raided by police.
Mr Lai said he was sitting with his back up against the pillows and the bedhead with his legs under the Doona with Ms O'Donnell next to him on his left, when he started pulling the trigger.
"I was just pointing it ... I wasn't really looking, I was just putting it in front of me," he said.
told the jury.
Ms O'Donnell had been playing poker on her mobile phone and Mr Lai was looking at his own phone as well as playing with the gun.
"I was sitting on the bed just randomly pulling the trigger," Mr Lai said. "I mean, I'm not sure how many times because I wasn't counting it.
"We were both sitting on the bed at that time, and then she got up to do something ...
"Then the gun went off and I heard a thump on the ground, so I crawled over to the edge of my bed and saw her laying there on the floor. I saw her holding her head and I yelled out, 'F--k' really loud and probably some other things.
"Next thing I know was my parents standing at my door with the door open."
Mr Lai said he called triple-0 and the operator told him to grab something to put on Ms O'Donnell's head wound.
"I held the T-shirt on her head and then when she stopped breathing I done CPR as the operator lady was telling me to."
Mr Lai said he was pushing up and down on Ms O'Donnell's chest and giving her mouth-to-mouth to try to revive her.
When asked what he thought now about what happened with the gun, Mr Lai said: "I still can't believe it even to this day. It's something that you never think would happen to you. Everything changes, just in the blink of an eye."
Mr Lai claimed he still had flashbacks to the day he shot Ms O'Donnell where he could still taste her blood in his mouth.
He had loved Ms O'Donnell because "she was beautiful on the inside and out", he said.
"She was just a caring person and kind. She'd give the time of day to anyone. She'd always be willing to listen to anyone's story no matter who they were and she would always offer help where she could."
Cross-examined by Mr Grant, Mr Lai admitted he used to punch and threaten to kill Ms O'Donnell and suspected she was being unfaithful with several different men, but claimed this happened only when he was coming down from drugs.
The trial, before Justice Michael Croucher, continues.
