Court in the Act: Inside the horror gangland assassination of Joseph Rodney Versace

Versace is a name normally associated with glamour, wealth, glitz, and fame.

But the reality of the death of a man who bore it was a lot grimier than the Italian fashion house which made it famous.

Joseph Rodney Versace. A man with bikie links. Shot in the head. Dead — in a shed, north of Perth.

With the gunman on the run and the rumour mill running rampant, his distraught family fronted the media just days after his death.

“They wanted to make it clear that they say Joe Versace had absolutely nothing to do with bikies, and they were very upset by the inferences that he was,” reporter Syan Vallance tells Tim Clarke on the Court in the Act Podcast.

“There are all these sort of nuances (in reporting) that of course he was involved in this lifestyle and make that put him more at risk.

“But there’s absolutely no point in victim blaming when he’s dead and his family is grieving like that.

“People are so keen to see things in black and white and it’s just so rare that ever happens. I think it was really courageous of them to speak especially so soon after their loss.”

The gunman — also a man with bikie links, Joshua Duperouzel — made his escape in a black BMW with the number plate ‘666’.

And he stayed on the run for days before police made a public appeal and he turned himself in.

He did this by approaching a woman in a park in the most bizarre way.

“Can we just for one moment imagine being that woman?” Vallance says.

“You’re on your lunch break, you’re in a Belmont park and you’ve got the river in front of you … lovely.

“A man approaches you, a big guy with face tattoos. Asks for your sandwich and says the police want him, by the way, can you give them a call?”

Duperouzel was sentenced in court last week for the murder of Versace.

Former 7News court reporter Vallance joins host Clarke on Court in the Act to break down the case.

Listen now.