Man's meeting with gangster after shooting
Bilal Hamze, 34, was shot dead as he left a restaurant in Sydney's CBD on June 17, 2021, and a court has heard his brother, Ibrahem, narrowly escaped a murder plot months later on August 14, 2021.
Samuel John Rokomaqisa, who allegedly had links to the Alameddine family, is standing trial accused of Bilal's murder and allegedly plotting to kill Ibrahem.
There was a clear conflict between crime families the Hamzes and Alameddines by the time Bilal was shot, the jury has previously been told. Bilal Hamze was shot while leaving the Kid Kyoto restaurant in Sydney's CBD on June 17, 2021. Supplied Credit: News Limited
NSW Supreme Court was previously told a stolen Audi was allegedly used in the shooting, while a stolen Mercedes was allegedly used to surveil Ibrahem's home on August 14.
A man on Monday told the court he met with Ibrahem after Bilal was killed when he realised number plates he had ordered on behalf of a group appeared to be used in the shooting, noticing the plates in a news article.
'I was interested because I was contacted by police soon after Bilal Hamze was murdered and they had spoken to me about this, about the plates,' he said.
'I wanted to inform (Ibrahem) of what the police are saying to not have any sort of bad blood or any sort of issues later on, and I wanted it to come directly from me.' Evidence suggested Ibrahem narrowly escaped a murder plot against him on August 14, 2021. NewsWire. Credit: News Corp Australia
The man said he didn't want Ibrahem 'to think that I had any sort of involvement at all'.
'Why were you worried that he would think you had any sort of involvement?' Crown prosecutor John Sfinas asked.
'Because people don't necessarily say the truth, and coming from a second or third or fourth person, stories might change a lot, and I didn't want that to happen, because that's not what happened,' the man replied. The stolen Audi allegedly used in the shooting of Bilal Hamze. Supplied. Credit: Supplied The Audi spotted travelling through the Lane Cove tunnel on the evening of Bilal's shooting. Supplied. Credit: Supplied
He knew Ibrahem through one of the man's cousins, who he had gone to school with, but said he had no connection with the Hamze or Alameddine families aside from that, the court was told
Stolen plates hidden in cemetery
The man said he would order fake plates online and supply them to others, including a group of Middle Eastern people he agreed were 'regular customers'.
The man would often leave the fake plates at an abandoned house, Rookwood Cemetery, and in the bushes of parks for the Middle Eastern group to pick up.
How alleged gangland shooting of Bilal Hamze and alleged plot to kill his brother Ibrahem unfolded'They'd just go and if (the plate's) not there they'd go back in a few days,' the man said.
'There was no other communication unless they wanted to order something else.'
The plates used in the alleged crimes were ordered on May 20, 2021, according to records shown in court. Bilal Hamze leaving his home to meet with a sex worker for dinner the night he was shot. Supplied. Credit: Supplied
He couldn't remember any names and said he didn't know most of the people he dealt with face-to-face, but they had got his address.
'I don't know how they figured it out … someone gave them that information that I can source these (plates), and, um, one day I just got the knock on the door,' he said.
He said he never asked the Middle Eastern group why they were making regular orders, as he was 'going through a lot' and 'just wanted the drugs' he was given in exchange for the plates.
He was paid in drugs and cash for orders made with him online and face-to-face between 2019 and 2021. Ibrahem Hamze is Bilal's younger brother. NewsWire / Christian Gilles Credit: News Corp Australia
The court was earlier told how stolen cars, including the one used in Bilal's shooting, were allegedly used as part of a criminal scheme across Sydney to affix cars with imitation plates, move the vehicles around between garages, and burn them out when they're done being used. Bilal Hamze was pronounced dead in hospital in June, 2021. Supplied. Credit: News Corp Australia
Mr Rokomaqisa is also accused of threatening an elderly man with a gun into giving him and another man his car after they got a flat tire during a police chase after surveilling Ibrahem's home on August 14.
The victim of the alleged carjacking on Monday told the court how a Mercedes had pulled up next to him while he was pulled over, the balaclava-clad passenger pointing a gun at him.
'(The passenger) looked at me and he point a gun to my face and he said get out of the car,' the man said.
He said the man sounded 'rather polite' and 'well spoken' as he threatened him, before the driver came round and pulled him from the car, the pair driving off with the elderly man's Camry.
Mr Rokomaqisa has entered not guilty pleas to murder, conspiring to murder and aggravated assault.
He has denied any involvement in the crimes and to having any links with the Alameddine family.
The trial continues.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Man didn't realise slain gangster Bilal Hamze fell next to his taxi until he saw footage of shooting on TV
Late on a Thursday night, a taxi driver looked at his phone as he waited for his next fare, not batting an eye when he heard very loud 'fireworks' going off. Seconds later, a jury has been told, an Audi pulled up just in front of his car, the tinted passenger window wound down just a couple of centimetres, a jury was told. This time when he heard the loud bangs, he knew they were gunshots. But it wasn't until he watched the news later that he realised a dying underworld figure had collapsed next to his taxi moments before he drove off, fearing for his life. Bilal Hamze, a senior member of the Hamze crime family, was gunned down outside the Kid Kyoto restaurant in Sydney's CBD on June 17, 2021. A man with alleged links to rival criminal organisation the Alameddine family, Samuel John Rokomaqisa, is standing trial accused of Hamze's murder and allegedly conspiring to kill his younger brother, Ibrahem. Mr Rokomaqisa has pleaded not guilty. Court documents reveal how a taxi driver, who was 'scared for (his) life', drove away after the shooting, oblivious to the dying gangster who had collapsed next to his car. The taxi driver was parked on Bridge St on the evening of the alleged murder and heard a few bangs he initially dismissed as fireworks. He 'saw flashes and heard loud bangs' just after an Audi pulled up in front of his car seconds later. 'I don't specifically remember seeing a pistol, but I believed these were gunshots,' the man told police in his witness statement. 'I immediately ducked down … I thought something bad was happening and wanted to move away from there. 'I was scared for my life.' By the time he looked back up the car was gone, and he drove up the road where he was hailed down by a woman, who was 'scared' when she got in at 10.24pm. 'She said she thought it was a shooting,' the man's statement read. He continued working until about 1am, unaware of the gravity of what he had just witnessed until he watched the news. 'I later saw on the news that a man had been shot next to where my taxi was stopped,' his witness statement read. 'On the night it happened, I did not see the man that had been shot, or anyone else around that time, as I had been looking at my phone while parked and waiting for a fare.' The NSW Supreme Court was previously told Bilal was 'grunting' and 'groaning' as he lay on the street after 10 shots were fired at him, blood coming from his mouth as the sex worker he had been dining with screamed over him. He was pronounced dead in hospital within the hour, and the stolen Audi was later found burnt out, with photos released this week showing the extent of the fire damage. It's alleged that months later, Ibrahem narrowly escaped a murder plot after a stolen Mercedes was spotted circling his unit and trying to enter its underground carpark, having 'just missed' Ibrahem, the court was told. It's alleged Mr Rokomaqisa and another man threatened an elderly man into giving them his car after the Mercedes they were in got a flat tyre in a police chase following the surveilling of Ibrahem's unit. The man, now 80 years old, told the court how he had pulled over to answer his phone when the Mercedes stopped next to him, the balaclava-clad passenger allegedly pointing a pistol at him. 'He looked at me and he point a gun to my face and he said 'get out of the car',' the man told the court. 'To me he sounded rather polite actually and well spoken.' The driver, also holding a pistol and described as 'well spoken', then allegedly pulled the man out of his Camry. The 80-year-old told the court how his shirt had been taken by police for forensic testing, as one of the men in the Mercedes had allegedly touched it. 'I said, 'Will I get it back?' He said 'No, you'll never get this shirt back',' the man told the court. The jury also heard how a man who ordered fake number plates that mimicked the plates of registered vehicles had allegedly met with Ibrahem after realising his plates were used in Bilal's murder. 'I wanted to inform (Ibrahem) of what the police are saying to not have any sort of bad blood or any sort of issues later on, and I wanted it to come directly from me,' the man said. Fake plates, both ordered online by the man in May 2021 according to records shown to the jury, were allegedly used on the stolen Audi involved in Bilal's shooting and on the Mercedes surveilling Ibrahem's home. The man told the court that he ordered the plates and supplied them to others, including a group of Middle Eastern people. He hid them at an abandoned house, Rookwood Cemetery and in parks for the group, who were 'regular customers', to pick up. He couldn't remember anyone's names but said he began supplying the group with the plates after he 'got the knock on the door' one day. He was unsure how they knew his address. The man said he never asked them why they were ordering from him regularly, telling the court that he 'just wanted the drugs' he was given, alongside cash, in exchange for the plates. The trial continues.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Alleged hitman was handpicked as CFMEU health and safety man on Big Build
A CFMEU delegate accused of involvement in a brazen underworld execution was parachuted into his lucrative union health and safety role four months after he allegedly gunned down a gangland figure in a suburban car park. Muhammed Sayan was working as a union health and safety representative until a fortnight ago, when armed police arrested him over his alleged role in the shooting of gangland boss Robert Issa in October 2023. Multiple sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed that Sayan was not elected by his fellow workers, as required by law, but parachuted into his CFMEU position after a request to the union. That February 2024 request came from a company part-owned by members of a Middle Eastern crime gang suspected by police to be linked to Issa's death only months earlier. Sayan was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of being part of a five-man hit squad that killed Issa in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park. The details of how Sayan got his union role to maintain site health and safety — and kept it after the union was plunged into administration — come amid separate revelations about how union bosses and ex-bikies culled from the CFMEU have re-emerged as industry fixers or subcontractors to the Allan government's Big Build projects. They include allegedly corrupt ex-CFMEU assistant secretary Derek Christopher, who has hung up his shingle as an industry 'mediator' through his newly founded firm, Atlas Consulting; ex-union delegate and former Mongols outlaw bikie boss Tyrone Bell, who is now also an industrial relations fixer via a company called Dynamis Health and Safety Relations; and Rebels bikie figure and sacked Big Build CFMEU health and safety representative Joel Leavitt, who is launching a labour-hire company. Gangland figure Mick Gatto is also still attempting to engage in deal-making with senior union officials.
The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
Alleged hitman was handpicked as CFMEU health and safety man on Big Build
A CFMEU delegate accused of involvement in a brazen underworld execution was parachuted into his lucrative union health and safety role four months after he allegedly gunned down a gangland figure in a suburban car park. Muhammed Sayan was working as a union health and safety representative until a fortnight ago, when armed police arrested him over his alleged role in the shooting of gangland boss Robert Issa in October 2023. Multiple sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed that Sayan was not elected by his fellow workers, as required by law, but parachuted into his CFMEU position after a request to the union. That February 2024 request came from a company part-owned by members of a Middle Eastern crime gang suspected by police to be linked to Issa's death only months earlier. Sayan was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of being part of a five-man hit squad that killed Issa in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park. The details of how Sayan got his union role to maintain site health and safety — and kept it after the union was plunged into administration — come amid separate revelations about how union bosses and ex-bikies culled from the CFMEU have re-emerged as industry fixers or subcontractors to the Allan government's Big Build projects. They include allegedly corrupt ex-CFMEU assistant secretary Derek Christopher, who has hung up his shingle as an industry 'mediator' through his newly founded firm, Atlas Consulting; ex-union delegate and former Mongols outlaw bikie boss Tyrone Bell, who is now also an industrial relations fixer via a company called Dynamis Health and Safety Relations; and Rebels bikie figure and sacked Big Build CFMEU health and safety representative Joel Leavitt, who is launching a labour-hire company. Gangland figure Mick Gatto is also still attempting to engage in deal-making with senior union officials.
