Mortlake shooting: Killer on loose as man shot dead in Mortlake apartment
A WOMAN in bed with crime figure Kemel Barakat, 29, when he was shot dead is being questioned about whether she had any role in his murder, police have revealed.
NSW
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A WOMAN in bed with crime figure Kemel Barakat when he was shot dead this morning is being questioned about whether she had any role in his murder.
Police have no idea how at least two people were able to get into the secure waterfront apartment block and then into Barakat’s unit in Mortlake before pumping more than 10 bullets into his stomach and chest.
There appears to be no evidence of forced entry into the apartment complex, which has a buzzer intercom system to let visitors in or owners who have a key.
Barakat, also known as “Blackie’’, was a suspect in the murder last year of a well-known gangster and hitman Hamad Assaad, who in turn was suspected of being involved in the murder of drug kingpin Walid Ahmad earlier last year.
Barakat, 29, was an enforcer for the Ahmad crime family, which has been at war with a number of other Middle Eastern crime families.
He also had strong links to the Hells Angels bikie gang and was known to be friends of former Sydney Hells Angels Boss Felix Lyle.
“The big question is how did the gunmen get in,’’ said one investigator on the case.
“The woman was known to the victim and obviously one line of inquiry is if she knows anything about how the killers were able to get access to the unit.’’
Barakat was well aware he may have been a target in Sydney’s escalating gang wars and recently moved into the two-bedroom unit.
His wife is believed to be in Thailand.
Members of the Middle Eastern Crime Squad went to the Mortlake home last Thursday to serve him with a firearms prohibition order but he wasn’t home.
Later that day he was seen by police at the Bankstown home of his good friend Rock Ahmad.
NSW Police superintendent Mark Jones said the dead man was shot “a large number of times”.
“It’s only very early in our investigation but something we’re always very concerned about would be any sort of reprisal-type action,” he said.
About 2.30am today, emergency crews rushed to Bennett St in Mortlake, where they found the body of Barakat in his bed and the woman in a distressed state.
He was killed in an execution-style attack.
About an hour later, the woman — who was dressed all in black — was escorted from the scene and taken to Burwood police station.
A burnt-out Mercedes was found in Minnie St, Belmore and police believe it was used by the killers.
Police said the car was so severely burnt that it was beyond recognition, and it could not yet be determined whether it had been stolen.
Extensive forensic testing will be carried out on the car in an attempt to recover any evidence.
Homicide detectives from State Crime Command remained on the scene, as family and friends of the deceased man arrived at the apartment complex.
Sydney’s gangland war was sparked in April last year, when Wally Ahmad, a known associate of Barakat, was shot dead in broad daylight as he sat in a cafe at a Bankstown shopping centre.
Ahmad ran one of Sydney’s most feared crime syndicates, which controlled a large section of the drug trade around Bankstown, Punchbowl and Condell Park in south west Sydney.
Ahmad, described as the “Mr Big” of crime, was widely known for his standover tactics.
He spent seven years in jail following a manslaughter conviction for the shooting death of Mayez Dany at a Greenacre wreckers yard in 2002.
BODY COUNT KEEPS RISING IN SYDNEY’S URBAN GANG WAR
April 9, 2016: Safwan Charbaji, 32, fatally shot after a gunfight outside a Condell Park smash repair business linked to underworld boss Walid Ahmad. Described as a “low-key” player in the Elmir family crime network as he was married to an Elmir relative’s sister.
April 29: Gangland kingpin and convicted killer Walid Ahmad, 40, killed in a cafe at Bankstown Central shopping centre. Believed to be in retaliation for the fatal shooting of Safwan Charbaji outside the Condell Park panel beater several weeks earlier.
Oct 25: Hamad Assaad, 29 — key suspect in murder of Ahmad — shot dead in front of his young nephew while his mother was inside the house. The hired gun known as “The Executioner” was killed in a hail of bullets by at least two men in the driveway of his Georges Hall home.
Nov 14: Mafia figure Pasquale Barbaro, 35, gunned down on an Earlwood street sitting in his luxury car outside the home of construction identity George Alex. It was speculated Assaad was behind the failed assassination of Barbaro on a Leichhardt street in November 2015.
March 10, 2017: Kemel “Blackie’’ Barakat, associate of Ahmad family, and links to the outlawed Hells Angels motorcycle gang shot dead at his Mortlake apartment. He was one of a number of people police were looking at for the murder of Assaad.
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