Gangster Bilal Hamze's last-minute change of plans and texts with sex worker before he was gunned down
Bilal Hamze was gunned down outside an Asian fusion restaurant four years ago.
The gangster lay groaning on the pavement outside the high end restaurant after 10 bullets were fired at him.
Blood spilling from his mouth, the sex worker he'd just been dining with screamed over him.
This week, his text messages with the woman have revealed the last-minute change of plans that landed him outside the Sydney restaurant where he was shot and killed.
Hamze was all set to meet with the woman – who'd known him for months as 'Bill' – at Potts Point restaurant Ms.G's on June 16, 2021.
There were a 'number of threats' on the gangster's life at this stage, with a court told there was a clear conflict between crime families the Hamzes and Alameddines.
Hamze's texts with the sex worker, who cannot be identified, revealed she'd asked to reschedule their dinner on June 16 to the following evening before she requested another change of plans.
'I was gonna say if you haven't booked Ms G's we should try that Kid Kyoto we were talking about last time,' she texted him about 6pm on June 17 over the encrypted app Signal.
'Now I really know you love your Japanese,' Hamze replied, agreeing.
Footage shows Hamze making his way to the restaurant where he spent an hour and a half with the woman.
But it was only one minute after they left the venue, at 10.23pm, when the first of 10 shots were fired at Hamze from a stolen Audi.
'I've never heard anything like it, I didn't know what it was,' the sex worker's police statement read.
Hamze ran after a second shot was fired, the sex worker seeking shelter in Kid Kyoto's doorway.
Another eight shots were unleashed toward Hamze, with CCTV showing him appear to jump back before falling to the ground and rolling towards the kerb.
The woman ran out and found Hamze 'face down' on the pavement.
'There's blood': Gangster's final moments
The sex worker cried as her statement was read out in court, detailing how she called an ambulance but had to hang up because she was 'screaming and couldn't talk'.
'I could hear Bill making noises like grunting … I kept saying make noise, make noise. I didn't know what to do,' her statement said.
The gangster lay on the street with blood coming out of his mouth as a bystander who had rushed over to help told an ambulance operator how a car 'came past and shot a man'.
'He's groaning … Yes, there's blood … from his mouth,' the bystander said during a recording of the call played in court.
'We don't know where the wound is.'
Someone could be heard yelling 'he's not breathing' in the background.
Footage of murder nearly puts juror to sleep
Samuel John Rokomaqisa, who allegedly had links to the Alameddine family, is standing trial accused of Hamze's murder and allegedly plotting to kill the gangster's younger brother, Ibrahem.
As some of Bilal's final moments were played in court, including the loud sound of eight shots going off, suspicions a juror was 'nodding off' prompted Acting Justice Robert Allan Hulme to dismiss the man who he said was not paying attention 'at all' during the footage.
Person of interest's 'frantic' calls and texts
Defence lawyer Thomas Woods said there would be evidence of the sex worker in contact with an alleged person of interest around the time of the shooting.
'You will hear evidence about her in communication with someone else who was in the near vicinity at the time of these events, someone who on the police assessment was a person of interest,' Mr Woods said in his opening address.
'They described his behaviour as frantic, sending messages, making phone calls, around the time of the killing.'
Text messages later read in court revealed the sex worker had messaged a friend 'What's doing?' about 10.22pm on June 17.
The man replied saying 'not much wbu (what about you)?' around the time the first shots were fired at 10.23pm.
He then sent a barrage of texts and calls, messaging her 'You OK???' at 10.26pm, 'I'm gonna go room soon, I feel sick' at 10.31pm, and 'Are you okay?' at 10.36pm.
'From that overview (of messages), there was nothing in your contact with (your friend) that night where you indicated that you were in danger – do you agree or disagree?' Mr Rokomaqisa's lawyer Robert Deppeler asked the woman, who agreed.
'Ibby needs to go': Ibrahem's escape
Evidence suggested Ibrahem narrowly escaped a murder plot just months after his brother was gunned down.
The words 'Ibby needs to go' were allegedly heard during a conversation between senior members of the Alameddine organised crime network on June 8, 2021, captured by a covert police recording.
Mr Woods said there was no indication his client was involved in this call and it fell outside the timeframe of the conspiracy his client was alleged to be involved in.
Prosecutors allege Mr Rokomaqisa was inside a stolen car spotted surveilling Ibrahem's unit a couple of months later on August 14, 2021.
They said the car circled the unit before attempting to enter its underground carpark, having 'just missed' Ibrahem, who had left.
The stolen car caught the eye of a nearby police officer when it tried to reverse park into a no-stopping zone across the street from Ibrahem's unit, and a police chase ensued when the car ran a red light.
It was ultimately called off when it became 'too dangerous', and prosecutors allege Mr Rokomaqisa then used a gun to threaten a man into giving he and another his car after they suffered a flat tyre in the chase.
'That was me': Alleged crim's bragging
Mr Rokomaqisa allegedly told a trial witness 'that was me, that is what we do with the cars' while showing them news footage of Bilal's murder.
Mr Rokomaqisa was allegedly heard bragging about how well he'd driven the getaway car, that he was 'paid to be the driver of hits', and that he was linked 'to the shooting and s*it'.
Mr Rokomaqisa allegedly told another trial witness he was owed some $270,000 for the crimes, with prosecutors arguing 'unexplained wealth' pointed to his alleged involvement in criminal activities on behalf of the Alameddines.
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.
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