Bikie appeals murder conviction over shooting death of Melbourne fruitier

A bikie serving 35 years for the execution of an innocent Melbourne father has launched an appeal, with his legal team claiming the jury got it wrong and it could have been someone else.

A team of 12 jurors unanimously found Aaron Ong guilty of the 2019 murder on Melbourne's Eastlink.

Fruitier Paul Virgona was shot as he drove to work in a case of mistaken identity.

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Ong was sentenced for the murder in August 2023, along with fellow bikie Josh Rider.

At the time Paul's wife Antonietta Virgona spoke of her family's relief that the court process was behind them.

Today she was back in court, as Aaron Ong's legal team claimed he wasn't there when the bullets were fired.

Ong's defence has always been that he wasn't in the Mercedes that tailed the footy coach before the father of two was peppered with bullets.

Ong took the case to trial in 2022. On the eve of the trial, Rider pleaded guilty to murdering the innocent father.

A jury rejected Ong's defence that he spent the night in Rider's Port Melbourne apartment while Rider carried out the murder with an unknown person.

In the Court of Appeal, Ong's legal team argued the guilty verdict was unreasonable.

His barrister claimed the jury overlooked the possibility there was someone else involved.

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Ong's defence centred their arguments on a Nike jumper he was wearing at the Mongol's Port Melbourne clubhouse.

The jumper was found in Ong's bag which was dumped after the shooting as police chased two offenders who ran from an Amarok ute.

The ute was a getaway car. Two people were caught on CCTV jumping into it, after the Mercedes used in the shooting was torched.

The Crown has always argued Ong was one of the men in the footage running to the ute. Police then began following the Amarok, it eventually crashed and two people got out and ran.

Ong's defence argued in the Court of Appeal that Rider's DNA was found on the getaway ute but Ong's wasn't.

Addressing the jumper, Theo Kassimatis KC told the court: 'It's a reasonable possibility at the clubhouse he removed his top, put it in the bag and gave it to someone else'.

Elizabeth Ruddle KC for the Crown said: "Why he would take off the clothing he was wearing before he got on his motorbike and give and give it to a third person who thought you know what? I'm going to take this bag while I commit a murder'."

Three Court of Appeal justices will now decide if they grant Ong's appeal. If so, they'll then rule on the jury verdict.

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