Witness recalls Melbourne gangland killing

Police at the scene of Des 'Tuppence' Moran's killing. Photo / Getty Images

MELBOURNE - "Oh shit." These were the last words gangland figure Des "Tuppence" Moran was heard to utter as he was gunned down in a Melbourne cafe last year.

A witness has told a hearing for four co-accused in the murder of Moran that as the shots rang out in the Ascot Vale cafe, someone yelled "hit the floor".

Peter Kirchner, 73, said he had been sitting with Moran outside the Union Rd cafe before the shooting.

Moran got up and said "I'm leaving" before walking into the cafe to pay, Kirchner said.

Kirchner also went inside and that's when he heard what he thought was a car backfiring.

"Someone yelled out, 'hit the floor'," Kirchner told the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday. "I hit the floor."

Kirchner said he saw a silhouette, with a hand holding what he believed to be a gun.

He saw Moran slump to the floor and heard him utter, "Oh shit."

Kirchner told the hearing he heard up to six shots being fired, including three after Moran had fallen to the ground.

Kirchner said he lay on the ground for two or three minutes before he was helped up.

He remained in the cafe with the proprietors and another man who had locked himself in the toilet until police arrived.

No one moved towards Moran's body, which lay in a pool of blood near the doorway.

The witness was giving evidence on the first day of a committal hearing for four people accused of Moran's murder.

The co-accused include his sister-in-law, Judy Moran, 65, who appeared in court yesterday in a wheelchair after suffering a fractured hip.

Suzanne Kane, 46, Geoffrey Armour, 44, and another man, Michael Farrugia, are also charged with murder.

- AAP