A member of Melbourne's Chaouk​ crime clan feared for his life and started crying after accidentally shooting himself in the testicle when reaching for cigarettes in his pocket, a court has heard.

Omar Chaouk shot himself in the groin and right testicle outside the Caroline Springs home of an associate in the early hours of March 17 last year, the County Court heard on Tuesday.

Omar Chaouk with Hells Angels at the funeral of his father, Macchour Chaouk, in 2010. Credit:Craig Abraham

Prosecutor Catherine Parkes told a plea hearing that after shooting himself with the .22 handgun, Chaouk asked the woman "if he was going to die, and started crying", before the woman and another man drove him to Sunshine Hospital.

Chaouk later asked the woman to tell police he had been playing with a pen gun.