EXCLUSIVE Killer's VERY 'gullible' mistake after slaying dad Taha Sabbagh at the gym in front of his son: Details emerge of hitman's error with undercover cops

Daily Mail​

20-05-2025

A getaway driver involved in the execution of a Sydney father in front of his young son has been jailed for 18 years after he divulged key details of the plot to undercover cops he had assumed were fellow criminals.
Father-of-three Taha Sabbagh, 40, was shot four times through the windshield and six times through the driver's side door of his black Mercedes Benz outside Elite Fight Force Gym at Sefton in Sydney's west on the morning of March 2, 2023.
Police believe it was a case of mistaken identity as Mr Sabbagh had been at the gym to drop his son off for his boxing lesson. He worked as a celebrity chauffeur and did not have any criminal connections.
But he did drive a black Mercedes Benz the same colour and model, and had a similar number plate to the gym's owner, a court heard.
About 6.30am, as he waited for the gym to open, a masked man in a hoodie burst out of a nearby car, sprayed bullets and fled - with Mr Sabbagh fatally shielding his son from the bullets.
Le Nghia 'Andy' Pham, 28, was found guilty of Mr Sabbagh's murder by a NSW Supreme Court jury, despite not being the one who pulled the trigger.
The jury found Pham was part of a joint agreement to commit the murder by locating vehicles, transporting the shooter and main getaway driver, and waiting to collect the two men from another location after the killing - for which he was offered $20,000.
The 28-year-old admitted to helping the two unidentified men, who he said had left Australia for Vietnam, but argued he did not know they were planning a shooting. He was arrested at Sydney International Airport in April 2023 on his way to Vietnam.
He was held at Surry Hills police station where undercover police officers posing as experienced criminals spoke to him. Pham made 'extensive admissions' to them which were recorded and tendered at trial.
Pham admitted to the undercover officers that he knew the two people involved in the shooting, that he drove them on that day, how they had fled to Vietnam and the amount of money he had been offered for his involvement.
The officers heard early on the morning of the shooting, Pham collected the two men and drove them to a location where the car they used was parked. He then drove to a unit complex in Bankstown and waited over an hour for them.
Once they arrived he drove them away to another location and then went by himself to his own house where he sprayed bleach in the car. He also contacted the passport office and tried to secure an emergency passport to leave the country.
The court heard the shooting was carefully planned with cloned number plates, multiple cars, the torching of the vehicle directly involved, the shooter wearing a mask and the flights booked out of the country.
However, the level at which Pham - who has an 'mild' intellectual disability - was involved in the planning was not clear, though the jury did find he, at some point beforehand, learned the men had intended to kill someone.
CCTV footage showed him dropping off a car that was left a few blocks from the gym on February 24, where he walked around the area, undisguised, and used his own phone to call an Uber to leave.
The car was used in the murder, but prosecutors said at that point it was likely Pham was 'not yet party' to the joint criminal enterprise.
The shooting rocked Sydney with the court hearing Mr Sabbagh was well-liked and had extensive links in the community.
Nasser Sabbagh said of his nephew: 'He was a good, quiet man. No criminal record. He goes to work. Spends time with his kids'.
Another relative said he wanted Mr Sabbagh to be remembered as a 'father, brother, uncle, and cousin'.
The proud dad's last social media post showed his 12-year-old boy practicing punching, blocking and dodging with a trainer.
On the afternoon of the murder, Mr Sabbagh's street was teeming with cars as loved ones arrived to pay their respects and console each other.
The court heard Pham's upbringing had been difficult.
He was born prematurely and both his parents had abused substances. When he was very young he lived on the streets with his father and, from the age of five, lived with his mother who 'slept through most of the day'.
Pham recalled having to prepare his own food and that he had on some occasions slept on the floor in 'dog beds' in brothels.
He later went to live with his grandmother, who was kind to him, and his grandfather who was physically abusive. Testing in school found he had a mild intellectual disability and he had developed a drug problem in his teens.
A forensic psychologist who assessed Pham found his intellectual disability likely impaired his judgement but he may also have been financially motivated.
Justice Belinda Rigg in her sentencing hearing on March 6 found that Pham was 'vulnerable to exploitation' because of this disability.
'The recorded conversation between the offender and the undercover officers after his arrest assists in my understanding of the offender's vulnerabilities,' she said.
'He engaged readily and in a gullible way with these two men, unknown to him.'
Justice Rigg noted Pham's 'sudden drive to leave the country' suggested he was not aware of the intent to kill Mr Sabbagh for long before the crime.
'(He was) provided with sufficient (information) to (have) the requisite knowledge of an intention to kill, very shortly before the murder. There was no reason for him to know earlier.'
Pham was jailed for 18 years and will be eligible for parole in April 2035.