I'll put an end to him: 86yo 'shooter'

An 86-year-old man accused of shooting his strata manager in the neck in Sydney's southwest vowed to "put an end to him" but told police he thought his gun was pointed at the wall.

Ilie Istudor allegedly shot 66-year-old Stephen Smith from close range with a shortened .22 calibre pistol during a meeting in April 2014.

"As far as I know I pointed the gun to the wall and not to him," Istudor told police during an interview played in Sydney's Downing Centre Court on Friday.

"I wanted the meeting to disperse and for him to walk away.

"As soon as the gun went off, I lost conscious(ness), and I don't remember anything after that."

During the interview, Istudor admitted penning a note the day of the shooting which was later discovered inside his unit.

The note spoke of Mr Smith squatting over the unit block's residents "as if he were appointed by God" and of teaching "swindling agents" a lesson.

"I will put an end to him and then myself," the note read.

"If this is the only way he can be removed, so be it.

"As I said, I'm old and I have nothing to lose."

Istudor told officers of a long-running feud between he and Mr Smith over the management of his Lakemba unit block and a proposed rise in levies.

Istudor said he thought "not much at all" of Mr Smith and "lost his senses" after an argument broke out at the tenants' meeting.

He told police that he'd earlier stashed a gun in the garden of his unit block "in case something happened" that night.

He told officers he fetched, loaded and fired the gun "just to make a disturbance".

"That's what I meant to do and that's what I did," he said.

"Whatever else happened, I don't know.

"My brains weren't working correctly that day."

Istudor is facing a special hearing to determine whether charges against him, including shoot with intent to kill, can be proven and if mental illness is available to him as a defence.

The hearing is set to continue on Monday.