Court hears new details of case against alleged bikies charged with murder of Jason De Ieso, as Mohamed Alzuain is denied bail
An alleged outlaw bikie charged over the 2012 Jason De Ieso murder has claimed the case against him is weak – prompting prosecutors to reveal details of the case against him in court.
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The 2012 murder of Jason De Ieso was an act of vengeance and retaliation against a rival gang that had firebombed the home of a senior bikie’s parents, a court has heard.
On Wednesday, counsel for alleged murderer Mohamed Alzuain claimed the case against their client was “weak” and “based on the word of” a single witness who should not be trusted.
Police say Mr De Ieso was an innocent bystander and not linked to bikie gangs.
Alzuain’s counsel asked the Adelaide Magistrates Court to release their client on home detention bail – but prosecutor Jim Pearce QC said they had mischaracterised the evidence gathered so far.
He said Alzuain could be linked to Mr De Ieso’s murder through a “detailed, thorough and subtle” web of interconnecting CCTV footage, mobile telephone tower tracking and phone call charges.
Alzuain’s ties to the gang, he said, and motive to participate in the shooting went beyond bikie loyalty – they were familial.
“This man was a Hells Angels prospect and other people who were there that day, at the staging area, were either prospects, members or associates of the north crew of the Hells Angels,” he said.
“His brother was, at that time, the club’s sergeant-at-arms … there had been escalating tensions between the Hells Angels and the Finks.
“Those tensions culminated in the firebombing, the previous night, of Alzuain’s parents’ house … it can be inferred this offence was committed as a consequence of furthering the interests of the Hells Angels.”
Mr De Ieso, 33, was shot dead when nine men burst into his Pooraka workshop, Unique Custom Paint and Panel, and fired several shots on November 21, 2012.
He was an innocent bystander caught up in a dispute between the rival bikie gangs, and was not a member of either outlaw faction – the incident was recorded on CCTV.
Alzuain is charged alongside his brothers Husain Ali Alzuain, 31, and Musa Alzuain, 28, as well as Daniel Mark Jalleh, 30, Ross William Montgomery, 34 and Kyle Lloyd Pryde, 31.
Jake Byron Martin-Herde, 31, of Salisbury Downs, is charged with assisting an offender.
On Wednesday, Mr Pearce said the witness – whose identity is suppressed – was but one facet of the case against the men.
He said that person’s testimony placed Alzuain at a house on Salisbury Highway, just hours before the murder, along with other Hells Angels members and associates.
“This house was a staging post and, in the lounge room, the witness saw not only these men but also guns consistent with both what can be seen on CCTV and with ballistics evidence,” he said.
“A large body of telephone tower and call charge evidence (shows) the charged men’s phones converging at the house … there is then ‘radio silence’ during the period of the offending.”
Mr Pearce said another witness would testify the men left their phones in the house and drove to the murder scene in two cars – a white Mazda and a white Nissan.
“CCTV from various businesses along Salisbury Highway (and) from buses show the two vehicles travelling in convoy toward the scene of the murder,” he said.
“(After the shooting), another witness followed the cars (and) lost sight of them within 1km of the house used as a staging ground.
“The call charge records show that, within a half-hour of the killing, the phones left at the staging ground began gradually to be reactivated as the men went off, concealing their crime.
“One car was located that afternoon, it had been torched … the other was found some weeks later, and all of its plates had been changed.”
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Mr Pearce said Alzuain had been sighted wearing a gang t-shirt that read “support your local 81” before the murder, as well as donning the “prospect colours” of the Hells Angels.
“The colours are regarded as sacred by these gangs … playing dress-up would not be permitted and would result in retribution,” he said.
He said Alzuain had a long history of non-compliance with bail agreements and a prior record of offending, all of which made him a “poor candidate” for home detention.
Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard agreed, saying that alone was enough to warrant Alzuain’s continued incarceration.
However, she said he also satisfied the legal requirement to be declared a “serious organised crime suspect”, meaning he was disqualified from bail in any form.
She remanded him in custody to face court again in December.