A relative of a man allegedly murdered by Benjamin Hoffmann has told a Northern Territory jury they found a glass pipe in their late uncle's car, despite police already searching the vehicle.
Sakelarios 'Charlie' Maillis is married to the niece of Michael Sisois, one of the four men allegedly killed by Mr Hoffmann during an alleged shooting spree in Darwin on June 4, 2019.
The court heard Mr Maillis collected his uncle's car from the Buff Club after police released it to the family.
Mr Maillis said the car was low on fuel, so he pulled over and went into the glove box to find a petrol receipt.
"And in the glove box, I find a sunglass case, and I opened up the sunglass case and there was a glass pipe sitting in there," he said.
"I was disappointed that I found it."
Detective Senior Constable Glen Chatto, who was tasked with searching Mr Sisois's car at the Buff Club, said it was "possible" the pipe could have been missed by police.
"I can only put it down to being a little bit exhausted and obviously not searching thoroughly enough. It's a mistake on my part," he said.
Constable Chatto told the court that police had found a separate pipe, also in a sunglasses case, also in the car's glove box.
Witness yells at accused gunman
As he left the Supreme Court after giving evidence, Mr Maillis hurled abuse at the accused gunman in front of the jury.
Supreme Court Justice John Burns instructed the jury to disregard Mr Maillis's comments.
"The allegations, in this case, are of a type to provoke strong emotions and you must guard against that," Judge Burns said.
"I direct you very strongly that you put out of your mind anything that you may have heard Mr Maillis say to the accused and just focus on the evidence that you hear in the trial."
Mr Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges against him.
Stolen gun in the spotlight
The court also heard from NT Police Senior Constable Nathan Mamo, who examined the firearm in the car Mr Hoffmann was driving at the time of his arrest.
Senior Constable Mamo said when he arrived at the scene on June 4, the gun's safety was off, which meant the firearm was "in a position to fire".
He identified it as a 12-gauge shotgun, which was next to an "empty box of what appeared to be Winchester buckshot ammunition".
Pascal Robaye told the court he owned a Winchester Defender shotgun, which was stolen along with a pushbike and some hunting knives from his house in 1996.
Crown prosecutor Lloyd Babb SC asked Mr Robaye: "Have you had any knowledge of that shotgun of yours, the Winchester Defender, since it was stolen?"
The witness replied: "No, not until I found out what happened, and I got called to the police station".
Mr Robaye said he was then asked to prepare a police statement and called to give evidence in Mr Hoffmann's murder trial.
The trial is scheduled to run for another six weeks.
