Breakthrough arrest in shooting of hitman Hamad Assaad

UPDATE: A 24-year-old Sydney man has appeared in court today charged with the murder of hitman Hamad Assad in Sydney’s south-west last year. He did not apply for bail. WATCH THE ARREST VIDEO.

• Hamad Assaad: Why gun for hire with a hit list had to go

A SYDNEY plumber is accused of carrying out surveillance on the home of slain hitman Hamad Assaad in the lead up to his gangland execution to allow his associates to carry out the hit at exactly the right time, police will allege.

Homicide detectives will allege Osama Hawat, 24, was a “lookout” who drove past the Georges Hall home of Assaad on four separate occasions in the lead up to his execution which was part of a series of tit-for-tat shootings.

Hamad Assaad was gunned down in his driveway.

Assaad bragged about his life as a hitman.

Police were seen searching through a white van outside Hawat’s house – which police will allege was used to drive past Assaad’s house.

But Hawat’s lawyer Ahmed Dib says police only charged his client in order to get him to “squeal” on other people and that a 20-page police fact sheet was filled with “circumstantial evidence”.

“He says he had nothing to do with the murder and they are allegations against him, putting pressure on him so he might be able to squeal on other people,” Ahmed Dib said outside of Bankstown Local Court today.

RELATED VIDEO

This comes as dramatic vision was released of the moment detectives stormed into the Greenacre home of Hawat this morning.

The GoPro footage, attached to the helmet of one officer, documents how police banged on Hawat’s front door at 6am today, repeatedly yelling “police search warrant” before smashing the handle and making their way inside.

NSW Police enter a home at Greenacre just after 6am today.

A man was arrested in connection with the alleged murder of a man in Sydney’s southwest last year.

A 24-year old man was arrested.

The man was taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he is expected to be charged with murder.

A wave of police rushed into the home, bypassing the silver 4th birthday balloons hanging just inside the door.

The vision shows a stunned Hawat with his arms up in surrender, before police pinned him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs. His mobile phone was also seized.

Dressed in a black hooded jumper and black pants, Hawat was led out of the home and to Bankstown Police Station.

The suspected trigger-man, 29-year-old Kemal Barakat, was killed in his Mortlake apartment in March.

Assaad was standing in his driveway at Sturt Ave, Georges Hall, when he was shot multiple times in front of his 12-year-old nephew.

The assailants then sped off seconds later in a black Audi sedan.

Assaad’s body lies in the driveway where he was gunned down.

Hawat’s arrest is a major development for police who are investigating four gangland shootings suspected of being linked to a number of warring crime families in south-west Sydney.

Police suspect Assaad played a role in the execution of kingpin Wally Ahmad who was killed six months earlier at a Bankstown shopping centre and that Assaad’s death was an act of retaliation.

Another person police believe was involved in Assaad’s death – Kemel “Blackie” Barakat – was gunned down in the bedroom of his Mortlake apartment in March this year.

The casket of Hamad Assaad is carried from Lakemba Mosque following his funeral in Sydney last year.

Outside of court today, Chief Detective Inspector Angelo Memmolo flagged officers attached to strike force Pippa would make further arrests.

“Investigations are continuing and will continue to bring those others to the court and to account,” Chief Inspector Memmolo said.

Hawat appeared briefly before court in the black hooded jumper he was arrested in and his wife quietly wept after he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

He is expected to make an earlier application for bail but he is next due to face Burwood Local Court on August 23.