A former Telecom worker saw David Eastman going into a gun seller's home where prosecutors allege he bought the rifle later used to kill Canberra's police chief, a jury heard Monday.
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But Raymond Webb also confessed that he had at first lied to police and the court, and that it took four years for him to come forward with the information.
He was forced to deny during a lengthy cross-examination that his memory was influenced by media coverage at the time that had splashed Mr Eastman's image across print and television.
Mr Webb was responding to calls for information about Ruger rifles when he approached police about the Ruger he had seen for sale at Louis Klarenbeek's home in Queanbeyan on December 31, 1988, the court heard.
At first, he told police he had seen no one else during his trip to buy a gun.
Nearly four years later, in 1992, Mr Webb returned to police and said he had seen Mr Eastman entering the Klarenbeek home as he was leaving.
He then picked Mr Eastman's image from a photoboard.
Prosecutors contend Mr Eastman tested the Klarenbeek Ruger 10/22 on December 31 and returned the next day to buy it.
It's alleged that Mr Eastman used the gun to put two bullets in Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester’s head as the officer sat in his car in his neighbour's Deakin driveway on January 10, 1989.
Mr Eastman, 72, denies the murder.
The gun seller, Mr Klarenbeek, later died of cancer, and so will not be called to give evidence.
Mr Webb admitted he had lied to police and later to the coroner when giving evidence under oath at an inquest when he said he had not seen anyone else at the Klarenbeek home.
He told the court he had been worried about his job with Telecom, which was at the time being restructured, as he was in uniform and at work at the time he was there.
But Mr Webb was forced to deny suggestions from defence barrister George Georgiou SC that he had not in fact seen anyone else entering the Queanbeyan home that day.
He also denied the barrister's suggestion that it was only years later - with images of Mr Eastman splashed across the media - that he convinced himself that the man he saw was Mr Eastman.
He denied anyone had influenced him to say it was Mr Eastman at the house that day.
Mr Georgiou suggested that even if Mr Webb had seen someone else at the home, it would have been for just a second.
“It was enough time for me to recognise who I seen,” Mr Webb said.
"It was three or four seconds and it was Mr Eastman."
The defence questioned Mr Webb about his friendship with Ken Winchester, the brother of Colin Winchester, as well as police officers though camping and membership of the AFP fishing club.
Mr Webb also agreed he had heard about a $250,000 reward for information in relation to the murder of Mr Winchester before approaching police, but was not sure about whether it was before he went to police.
He said he had applied for the reward in 2010. He told the court he was chasing lost superannuation when he saw a newspaper advertisement about lost rewards and decided to apply.
But the court heard he could not claim the money until all avenues of appeal were exhausted.
The trial continues.
