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A ballistics expert has cast doubt on a confessed killer's claim that he accidentally fired a shotgun at a man at close range. Kai Yuen, 28, has pleaded guilty to murdering Brendan Scott Welsh on Mother's Day in 2010. But Yuen, who was involved in a feud with Mr Welsh, says the fatal shot was fired by accident and the death was unintentional. He claims he was pointing the loaded shotgun at Mr Welsh, who was sitting in the driver's seat of a car behind the Hughes shops, when he took his left hand off the barrel to open the car door. Yuen argues he then stumbled on the gutter which, combined with the weight of the gun, caused the weapon to fire accidentally. One shot shattered the windshield and struck the victim in the chest; another hit the frame of the driver's door. Mr Welsh, 28, died from the wounds. But a disputed facts hearing, convened to determine what happened, on Wednesday heard that the killer's version of events was unlikely. Australian Federal Police forensic firearms expert Christiaan Pieterse, who tested the murder weapon, told the court the shotgun did not have a ''hair-trigger''. Mr Pieterse said testing revealed both triggers required more than two kilograms of pressure to cause the firearm to discharge, which was mid to heavy range for weapons of this type. He said the gun's weight of 3.3 kilograms, if held in one hand, would not be enough to cause it to fire if the barrel was horizontal. But Mr Pieterse said the weapon would discharge if held with the muzzle pointing at the ground. It is unknown how Yuen was holding the weapon at the time. Mr Pieterse also said the weapon had two triggers, which could not be fired simultaneously using only one finger. Earlier in the day the court heard Yuen had attended the Majura Park Gun Club to take part in clay target shooting on four occasions in 2009. Club president Joseph Thaller told the court he instructed Yuen during his visits to the range. Mr Thaller said visitors to the club, which specialises in competition clay target shooting, are supervised on the range and taught basic gun safety. He said rules included keeping the guns ''broken'', unloaded and fingers away from the trigger unless shooting. But he said visitors were not taught to use the gun's safety as sport clay shooting rules specified that the only safe shotgun was a broken shotgun. Mr Thaller told the court he could remember Yuen and had no concerns about safety during his visits to the club. Yuen is expected to enter the witness box when the hearing continues on Thursday.

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