Bassil Hijazi shot twice in two weeks but second drive-by shooting proved fatal

IT was second time unlucky for teenage Comanchero associate Bassil Hijazi — target of two copycat drive-by shootings. He survived being shot in the neck when his car was sprayed by bullets. Two weeks later he wasn’t so lucky.

IT was second time unlucky for teenage Comanchero associate Bassil Hijazi — target of two copycat drive-by shootings.

Hijazi was shot in the neck the first time, but miraculously survived when his car was sprayed by bullets in Prince St, Bexley, on July 16, 2013.

Then two weeks later on July 29, the 18-year-old was smoking bongs with a mate in the back of a blue Mitsubishi Lancer when the bullets started flying again.

This time his wounds were fatal.

Bassil Hijazi didn’t survive the second drive-by shooting.

Yesterday, a Supreme Court jury found the man responsible for murdering Hijazi in a carpark behind Fusion Gym — just a kilometre away from the first shooting — was Joseph Gatt, who the Crown alleged acted in retaliation for another drive-by attack.

Crown prosecutor Adrian Robertson said Gatt, 27, and his girlfriend had been shot at as they sat inside a Toyota HiAce van parked at Lakemba McDonald’s on June 12, 2013.

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Evidence markers at the crime scene.

Crime scene photos tendered during trial of Joseph Gatt who was found guilty of the 2013 murder of Bassil Hijazi.

The court heard Gatt had been informed that the person who carried out the drive-by shooting was a close friend of Hijazi.

“We say that gave rise to motive in the feud,” Mr Robertson said.

They jury also heard that Gatt had also been involved in a fight with Hijazi at a 7-Eleven in May of that year.

A shattered window from one of the bullets fired at Hijazi.

But throughout his trial Gatt blamed his best friend for the murder, maintaining that a gun was pulled on him on that night.

“I braced for impact. I thought I was about to be shot,” he said when giving evidence last month.

The Crown case relied on the evidence of their star witness George Borg who had previously pleaded guilty to murder but denied firing his gun.

A bullet hole in the Lancer.

A bullet at the crime scene.

Borg told the court it was close mate Gatt who pulled the trigger and that the pair had hunted down Hijazi after being tipped off to his whereabouts on the night of the murder.

“Mr Borg on our evidence did not fire a single shot,” Mr Robertson said.

Blood splatter on a hat found at the crime scene.

The carpark where Hijazi was gunned down as he sat in a blue Mitsubishi Lancer outside Fusion Gym at Bexley on July 29, 2013.

Gatt’s defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC told the jury that it was Mr Borg who shot Hijazi.

“It is the accused’s case that he was not armed. That it was Mr Borg who was armed. Mr Borg pulled out a gun and fired,” he said.

“There is a big issue in this case about who shot the deceased.”

Gatt will face a sentencing hearing before Justice Monika Schmidt on June 13.

A man is arrested over the murder.