A hyperventilating Glen McNamara told former NSW policeman Roger Rogerson the Sydney storage shed they were in would soon be "swarming with Chinese assassins" as university student Jamie Gao lay dead, a court has heard.
The 75-year-old Rogerson took to the witness box at his NSW Supreme Court trial on Friday to give his version of the events of May 20, 2014.
"Glen, what the f*** happened?" Rogerson told a jury he had asked McNamara when confronted by the sight of Mr Gao lying apparently dead on the floor.
His co-accused in Mr Gao's murder, McNamara, has testified it was Rogerson who shot the alleged drug dealer - over a botched drug deal - and that he was coerced into disposing of the body.
But Rogerson denied this.
Instead, the former NSW policeman described how a "white as a ghost" McNamara told him Mr Gao had shot himself in the chest with his own gun while the two men struggled, after the student tried to carjack McNamara.
Rogerson said he had agreed to be a lookout at the meeting which McNamara had told him was with an informant on triads for a book he was writing.
"He (McNamara) said, 'I was able to grab hold of his (Mr Gao's) hands and I was lucky enough to twist the gun around'," Rogerson told the court.
"He said it went off twice and he said he (Mr Gao) shot himself in the chest."
McNamara said the place would soon be "swarming with Chinese assassins" and they'd be killed if they didn't leave, the court heard.
"I said to him, `Glen ... I think the only thing we'll be doing here is calling the cops'," Rogerson told the jury.
But McNamara said it would become a bloodbath and he couldn't live with himself if innocent people were killed.
Rogerson told his friend to pull himself together, before they discussed getting Mr Gao away, and McNamara produced a surfboard cover.
They both lifted Mr Gao's body into it and took it to a car, according to Rogerson.
Then McNamara picked up a black bag from the storage shed and put it in the car, after commenting that there was something wrong and that the bag only had a towel in it.
Rogerson said he didn't know what that meant and testified that he was in "a state of shock".
"I could not believe this was happening," he said.
"It was like one huge nightmare."
McNamara took detailed notes and barely looked at his co-accused during the nearly two-hour testimony.
Rogerson, who wore a hearing aid device, was cautioned by the judge a number of times to stick to answering the questions his barrister George Thomas was putting to him.
He is due to return to the witness box on Monday.
