Eight accused formally plead not guilty in the Supreme Court to the shooting murder of Jason De Ieso
Eight men have formally pleaded not guilty to the shooting murder of Jason De Ieso during a court hearing held amid unprecedented security.
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Eight men have formally pleaded not guilty to the murder of a northern suburbs mechanic in a Supreme Court hearing held under unprecedented security restrictions.
A separate security point was established outside the Sir Samuel Way building’s largest courtroom, and extra Sheriff's Officers and police were on hand as the eight men appeared together for the first time since their arrests.
Ross William Montgomery, 35, Daniel Mark Jalleh, 31, Musa Ali Alzuain, 27, Mohamed Alzuain, 28, Husain Ali Alzuain, 32, Kyle Lloyd Pryde, 32, Nicholas Sianis, 33, and Seywan Moradi, 33, are each charged with murder.
On Monday before Justice Ann Bampton, the eight men each pleaded not guilty.
Charges against a ninth man, who was accused of assisting the others, were dropped in April.
The charges relate to the 2012 shotgun ambush murder of Jason De Ieso who, prosecutors allege, was an innocent victim of a feud between the Finks and Hells Angels.
Prosecutors have previously said the trial is expected to run for four to six months which, coupled with the number of defendants and counsel, leave it on track to be the largest murder case in SA history.
In May, prosecutors lodged an ex officio information with the Supreme Court, which allowed the case to jump the rest of the Magistrates Court process and be fast-tracked for trial.
On Monday, Michael Abbott QC, for Husain Alzuain, flagged the possibility of applications to sever the trials and allow them to be heard either separately or in groups.
Pre-trial hearings are expected to begin in October and last for several weeks ahead of the lengthy trial.
In the court on Monday, relatives of Mr De Ieso sat only metres away from relatives of the men accused of killing the mechanic.
Mr De Ieso, 32, was shot dead in his Pooraka workshop on November 21, 2012.
Security camera footage from the workshop shows nine masked men, several of them armed with firearms, approaching the workshop before firing shots and fleeing.
Police have alleged the murder was the culmination of four days of violent feuding between the Hells Angels and Finks that included a firebombing and several assaults at a tattoo parlour.
The majority of the accused were arrested in August 2019 following an 18 month covert police operation.
Several other accused were then arrested in the following months.
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