Man, teenage boy involved in underworld murder of father and son were 'novices'

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

A man and a teenage boy have been described in court as "novices" over their roles in the underworld killing of teenage gangster Salim Hamze and his innocent father Toufik in 2021.
Suliman Hamza, now 23, and the teenager have pleaded guilty to being accessories after the fact to murdering the Hamzes.
The teenage boy was 16 at the time of the underworld hit and cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The Hamzes's daylight slaying on their front lawn were the sixth and seventh deaths stemming from a feud between the warring Hamzy and Alameddine clans.
The rival families, who operate organised crime networks in Western Sydney, were locked in a bloody battle for control over the city's drug trade at the time.
The feud would go on to draw in members of other Sydney crime families and the Comanchero bikie gang as the violence played out over two years.
The court heard the boy, only identified as SH, "has some remorse for Toufik [Hamze]".
He had no idea what he was involved in and was described as a "mushroom in the dark" by his legal team.
"[Toufik Hamze], who he characterised as blameless … he had some sorrow that this man lost his life," his barrister told the Sydney District Court on Friday.
"He was not getting on with his family, wanting to be a part of a group and seeing them as family, this is common in bikie groups but he's finally breaking through that.
The pair were not involved in the shooting or the getaway, but were recruited to wipe forensic evidence from the vehicles seen fleeing the scene.
Referencing how their DNA was left in one of the cars, and that of a previous owner, the boy's barrister said: "I wouldn't employ them to clean my home".
When the duo were told to clean one of the getaway cars by a co-conspirator, Mr Hamza had to Google what Windex was used for, the court heard.
Mr Hamza's barrister Avni Djemal SC said he had "no idea" the cars were used to kill two people.
"The fact he had to look up Windex shows the type of novice," he said.
"He is a very troubled young man, he's come from a background of abject poverty."
Crown prosecutor Mitchell Paish described Mr Hamza as "the pivot" and described how he was "directing others".
Mr Hamze, 18, was targeted due to suspicions he was the gunman who killed rival drug dealer Shady Kanj two months before he met his own end.
"The father died for the sins of the son," then-Homicide Squad Commander Danny Doherty said at the time.
The teenager and his father, 64, died in a hail of bullets getting into a red ute outside their Guildford family home on October 20, 2021.
Police believe the trigger man for the killing is one of Mr Hamze's best friends, Zaid Abdelhafez, who fled overseas after the attack.
Mr Abdelhafez, 22, is currently wanted on a warrant for two counts of murder, though his whereabouts is unknown to law enforcement.
Alameddine family patriarch Rafat Alameddine and associate John Bayssari are also wanted on warrants for arranging the murders, but both have fled to Lebanon.
If Mr Hamza and the boy are convicted they will be two of just a handful police have so far managed to secure in relation to the 33 gangland killings that have plagued Sydney for the past five years.
Mr Hamza and the boy will be sentenced back in the same court next week.