Bonnyrigg Heights: Adam Saliba faces court for shooting Samer Marcus in June 2020

They were mates for 20 years and fellow gang members but when Adam Saliba saw the fellow DSLATHR leader approach him outside his southwest Sydney home, he opened fire.

Gang member Adam Saliba shot his friend of more than 20 years, Samer Marcus, outside his Bonnyrigg Heights home in a show of “excessive self defence” after a series of threatening messages, a court has heard.

The shooting at Saliba’s Middlehope St house on June 15, 2020, was unleashed in the middle of the day after the members of the gang, also known as The Last Hour, experienced more than a week of tensions.

Court documents reveal a chain of expletive, indecipherable WhatsApp messages Marcus sent Saliba, 35, shortly before the shooting, which Marcus survived after being hit in the jaw and back.

“I want to f*** you but I want to take you just me and you come on you’re f***ing Grunke please do it if you don’t you’re a chickens***,’’ Marcus wrote to Saliba on June 14.

The next day, the barrage continued.

“Don’t f****ing talk to meet your dog and if you do I will f*** you so hard you’re f***ing dog.

“Yeah come out the f*** you’re f***ing dog do you want me to come front of your mom and your dad your f***ing dog come to the park you’re f***ing dog you got bash before fun with your mom you’re f****ng dog so come come to the park you’re f****ng dog come to the f**** you’re f***ing dog your moms a dog.’’

Samer Marcus when he drove to Adam Saliba’s house at Bonnyrigg Heights. Picture: NSW Police

At 12.30pm, wearing a hi-vis jumper, Marcus pulled up his ute and charged towards Saliba’s double-storey brick house where his mother and sisters were.

Saliba walked outside, raised a .22 calibre pistol and fired a round of two or three shots that struck Marcus in the jaw. When he turned away, another shot hit him in the back.

A neighbour heard “yelling in a Lebanese accent” before “high-pitched cracks and further yelling”.

Documents tendered to Parramatta District Court reveal the witness saw the offender, the victim and another man standing on the street and Saliba was about 4m from Marcus while still wielding the pistol.

Saliba walked towards Marcus, who was walking backwards, and shot the pistol towards him again before he fled in his ute.

Saliba and two other people drove to Chaffey Park 2km away, buried the weapon, magazine and ammunition beneath mulch under a tree at the park’s entrance.

“This was seen by a civilian, who reported suspicious behaviour to police, being two males wearing gloves and one of them bury something near a tree in the park,’’ court papers reveal.

More than two hours later, cops searched the park and seized the weapon beneath about 15cm of mulch affixed with a silencer and 34 rounds of ammunition in a tray.

Earlier, cops went to Middlehope St about 1pm. They found blood on the street which was analysed and matched Marcus’ DNA. Police also found a bullet hole and fragment in the garage at a neighbour’s house, and two cartridges in the street, including one in a stormwater drain.

When cops went to Marcus’ house at Campbelltown Rd, Denham Court, a day later, his family said he was in his room but did not know where the blood came from.

Samer Marcus told police and medical staff his injuries were because of a scaffolding accident.

Cops saw a “cut or hole “beneath his lip bleeding, which made his speech hard to understand and he appeared “to be under the influence of a substance”.

Marcus unleashed abuse on police and lied about the shooting, telling them it was a scaffolding accident.

A search later that day saw blood stains on inside his ute. He did not attend Liverpool Hospital until three days after the shooting when he continued to lie about the cause of his injuries.

Saliba was arrested at his house on July 1 and told police he had shot the victim because he feared he would be killed and thought he was carrying a gun despite not seeing a weapon.

“I believe it’s justified self-defence,’’ Saliba said.

“My life was in danger. My family’s lives were in danger. This threat was serious. It was a real threat.

“I was in fear mate, I was in shock. I was like the guy’s obviously coming to kill me … I believed it and I was thinking about my family was thinking about my mother inside, I was thinking about my, my sisters that was there sorry. So I was thinking I’m gunna die mate, you know … he’s a serious guy, he’s not a joke.

“I was aiming for like the stomach, stomach for the legs.

Adam Saliba when he was arrested in July 2020. Picture: NSW Police

“And I had my family at home, mate that’s it, I had to do what I had to do. Fair enough it’s wrong, whatever it is, yeah it’s not, you know it’s illegal all right. I understand but in the streets people kill ya, they don’t care about the law.’’

Saliba denied trying to kill Marcus, saying he just wanted to “get him away from my house”.

“I wasn’t aiming I was just like trying to p*** him off, ’’ he said.

In December 2013, police prohibited Saliba from using firearms but he told them he bought the gun to save his life.

He shot Marcus while he was on parole from February 2019 for a grievous bodily harm charge.

Following the June 2020 shooting, Saliba was charged with possessing an unauthorised, discharging firearm to intend grievous bodily harm, possessing unauthorised prohibited firearm and acquiring ammunition subject to a prohibition order.

He pleaded guilty to the offences in February.

An initial charge of shooting with intent to murder was withdrawn.

Adam Saliba will be sentenced two years after he shot Samer Marcus in the jaw and back. NSW Police via NCA NewsWire

During the sentence hearing on Friday, Judge Nanette Williams told the court, “the facts are troubling” when referring to Saliba targeting Marcus about 4m away.

“It’s not like he’s across the street and lets a round go,’’ she said.

However, the Crown and defence barrister agreed Saliba opened fire when the victim was 10m away and they walked towards each other, information Justice Williams said were “at odds” with the agreed facts.

Mr James said his client’s actions were “excessive self defence”.

Co-offender Sargon Youkhana was charged with pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact and is to be sentenced on April 28.

Saliba’s sentencing will be adjourned for judgment on June 3.

In an unrelated incident, Marcus was left a quadriplegic on November 6, 2020, after he was allegedly shot in the driveway of his Campbelltown Rd house at Denham Court.

Luke John Sparos pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and the matter remains before the courts.

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