Canterbury IED: Nicholas Sguras, Moses Succar, Antonio Capo face court

Three men set to be sentenced over an IED bomb planted outside an inner west home will have to wait until after Christmas to learn their fate.

Three men accused of being involved in the detonation of an IED at a home in Sydney’s inner west which seriously injured a woman will have to wait until after Christmas to learn their fate.

A group of men are before the courts for their alleged involvement in the incident in which an IED crudely make of aerosol cans and thumb tacks was detonated.

The bomb exploded at a home in Canterbury last June and left Denise Lavell with serious burns to her body.

Nicholas Sguras, 20, Moses Succar, 20, and Antonio Capo, 19, had their matters heard at Downing Centre District Court on Thursday where they were initially due to be sentenced.

Tony Capo pictured at Burwood Local Court at an earlier court appearance. Picture: Monique Harmer

Zhane Thompson at an earlier court appearance. Picture: Monique Harmer

Capo, who is on bail, sat quietly as he appeared via AVL from his lawyer’s chambers.

In court, Capo’s barrister Sophie Walsh said she had made an application for his matter to go before Judge Weinstein in January to pair up with co-accused Zhane Thompson.

The crown prosecutor said Thompson was listed for sentence in January because he had assisted the crown in evidence for a co-accused’s trial.

He told the court that Judge Weinstein had “exercised his discretion” for Thompson and now Capo because they were charged with the same offence.

Ms Walsh also made a bail variation asking for Capo’s bail to be reduced to one day police reporting at Burwood station.

She also asked for a curfew to be altered so he could not leave his home from 11.59pm to 5am.

Nicholas Sguras, 20, Moses Succar, 20, and Antonio Capo, 19, had their matters heard at Downing Centre District Court on Thursday. Picture: John Grainger

Justice Dina Yehia approved the bail variation and Capo’s matter was adjourned to January.

For the matters of Sguras and Succar, the crown prosecutor said they were ready to proceed to sentence hearing today.

Yet Sguras’s lawyer Michael Coroneos argued there would be a question of “parity” if the other co-accused were dealt with separately under another judge.

The crown opposed the request for an adjourned sentence saying Succar and Sguras’s charges were “much more serious” than the other co-accused.

He told the court Thompson was charged with section 55 of the Crimes Act (possessing or making explosives or other things with the intent to injure) which carries a maximum of 10 years.

Yet he said Sguras and Succar faced the “more serious” charge, section 46 (cause bodily injury by gunpowder or other substance) which carries a 25-year jail term.

The IED exploded at a home in Canterbury last June and left Denise Lavell with serious burns to her body. Picture: Bill Hearne

Judge Yehia asked if all co-accused were involved in the same event to which the crown said “yes.”

The crown said the three offenders before the court today were part of a group of men who sought “vengeance” following a “drug rip-off.”

He told the court the group went to a Canterbury home armed with “baseball bats.”

“They went away and built an Improvised Explosive Device. The group came back and played different roles…. They placed an IED at the front porch of the house where they believed the victim lived.

The victim Denise Lavell suffered serious burns followed the IED blast. Picture: Bill Hearne

“The mother (of the victim) came out and she was impacted by the explosion.”

Judge Yehia said despite the differences in charges between the co-accused, it would be “more sensible” for them all to be sentenced by one judge seeing as the “criminality arose from the one event.”

She adjourned the sentences of Sguras, Succar and Capo to January to join the other co-accused.