Kemel ‘Blackie’ Barakat murder: Ahmed Jaghbir set for sentence
The sister of underworld figure Kemel “Blackie” Barakat has told how she lost a piece of her “soul” the moment gunmen executed him as he slept. Paying tribute to her little brother, she said the very qualities she loved about him also most probably led to his death.
Central Sydney
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The sister of slain Sydney underworld figure Kemel “Blackie” Barakat, brutally gunned down in his own bed when four armed assassins stormed his unit in 2017, has revealed how she lost a piece of her soul the night her brother was brutally murdered.
At the Supreme Court sentence hearing of Ahmed ‘AJ’ Jagbhir, who betrayed his friend by handing assassins a key to Barakat’s Mortlake unit, older sister Gabriella Martin revealed the pain and suffering the murder had caused her family in a victim impact statement.
“When I lost Kemel, I lost a piece of my heart, my soul,” she said. “ All of our lives have changed forever. Nothing will ever be the same again.”
Jaghbir, a 31-year-old electrician from Lidcombe, had been called on by Barakat to help repair his door which had been smashed in by police in March 2017. Weeks earlier Barakat, a suspect in the murder of Walid Ahmad, was shot at on Parramatta Rd.
The Supreme Court judge-alone trial heard evidence Jaghbir had played an active role in repairing the damaged door.
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Justice David Davies ruled the tradesman was the only person who could’ve delivered a key, or duplicate key, to the killers who stormed the Mortlake unit and executed his one-time friend.
“I find beyond reasonable doubt the assailants entered the unit by unlocking the front door with a key they had in their possession,” he said.
The woman sleeping next to Barakat on the night of the murder, Fatima Hage, gave evidence during the trial the underworld figure pushed her away before he was shot down, using his final moments to say sorry.
“It is difficult to imagine the horror of what she experienced that night,” Justice Davies said. “She thought she was about to be killed too.”
Ms Martin described her little brother as having a big heart, an infectious laugh and said he was someone who trusted easily.
“Perhaps these traits are what ultimately led to his death,” she said. “Kemel trusted the wrong person and was betrayed in the worst way imaginable.”
Jaghbir’s defence barristers reminded the court the electrician shouldn’t be punished for the killers’ actions, arguing there was no evidence the Lidcombe man had any role in the murder as opposed passing on a key.
“There is no evidence to suggest he was planning the death, setting up the death or intending to come into possession of the key.”
Jaghbir, who is in protective custody, will be sentenced at a later date for being an accessory before the fact to murder.