Drug dealer admits to shooting man dead in Cooks Hill unit

Michael Thomas Rae, 38, of Woodrising, was on Monday expected to face the first day of a murder trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.

Instead, he was re-arraigned and pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter by unlawful and dangerous act.

The plea was accepted by prosecutors, meaning the trial will be vacated and the murder charge will be subject to no further proceedings.

Rae remains behind bars and will be sentenced in June.

Rae was on parole for stealing 39 firearms from a Newcastle storage facility and was supplying drugs when he went to the unit of an associate in Darby Street on July 22, 2021.

It was after midday when Mr Prentice, a 40-year-old from Rutherford known as "Wes" who was couch surfing in the unit block, arrived at the unit and the pair began arguing over a debt.

They walked into the loungeroom and became involved in a "physical scuffle" before Rae pulled out a firearm and Mr Prentice was shot once in the chest at close range.

He died at the scene.

A short time later, Rae and a woman were spotted running to a blue four-wheel drive and, after collecting a significant amount of CCTV footage, police said they could track that vehicle to a home at Windale.

Crime scene officers also said they located DNA inside and outside of the unit that police said linked Rae to the shooting.

Rae was arrested at Bonny Hills, about 20 kilometres south of Port Macquarie, ten days after Mr Prentice was gunned down after a large contingent of heavily-armed police descended on the small coastal town.

He was carrying a bag that contained cash and a loaded shortened single-barrel 12-gauge shotgun. He was charged with murder and refused bail.

It's not the first time Rae had shot someone, he fired a pistol into a rival at Islington in 2010 and was later jailed for a maximum of seven years and seven months.

He was eligible for parole in 2015, pulled off the gun theft at Kennards in late 2016 and was taken back behind bars.

He was released in January, 2021 and had only been on parole for six months when he shot Mr Prentice and went on the run.