SLUMPED in a chair in a cramped room somewhere inside Parklea Correctional Centre, Adam Andrew Bidner on Friday denied any involvement in the death of Shane Mears.
Mr Bidner, now 32, of Aberdare, is accused of hitting Mr Mears, a rival scrap metal collector, with his car and leaving him for dead at the Cessnock waste management facility in July last year.
He appeared in Sydney Supreme Court via audio visual link from jail on Friday and answered "not guilty" to charges of murder, the alternative charge of manslaughter, dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after impact causing death.
Mr Bidner's estimated four-week trial will begin in late 2022 or early 2023.
Detectives say Mr Bidner and Mr Mears were known to each other and had a "history of antagonism" and "bad blood".
According to police, a few weeks before his death, Mr Bidner told Mr Mears that he would "get" him and Mr Mears would not see it coming, the prosecution revealed during a failed bail application for Mr Bidner in Newcastle Local Court in January.
"Mearsy, I'll get you and you won't even see it coming," Mr Bidner is alleged to have said.
And detectives allege that sometime between 4.45pm and 5.10pm on July 5, Mr Bidner used his Toyota Landcruiser to run down the 54-year-old at the waste management facility on Old Maitland Road.
And while Mr Mears lay dying from multiple critical injuries beside a large scrap heap in an isolated area of the facility, Mr Bidner is accused of fleeing the scene.
What started as a grisly mystery - a man found dead inside the Cessnock tip after closing time - quickly became a major investigation and manhunt, with the NSW Homicide Squad called in to assist Hunter Valley detectives.
Mr Bidner was arrested at a property at Lovedale about 10.20am on July 8 and police say they found a silver Toyota Landcruiser in Mr Bidner's father's garage and seized it as it was being cleaned.
Mearsy, I'll get you and you won't even see it coming.
Adam Bidner is alleged to have said.
