Glebe: Brothers Yianni Tomaras, Meneleos Tomaras plead guilty over Tramsheds IGA affray

A stoush over unpaid debts prompted two brothers to viciously attack a former friend, while grocery shopping on a Saturday morning at a trendy inner city shopping centre.

L: Yianni Tomaras, R: Meneleos Tomaras leave John Maddison Tower on Thursday.

Two brothers attacked a former friend in the middle of a busy inner city supermarket over an unpaid debt, before jumping him again an hour later in broad daylight.

Wolli Creek men Yianni Tomaras, 33, and Meneleos Tomaras, 30, faced court on Thursday, after pleading guilty to affray.

One charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company was withdrawn, while another will be taken into account on sentence.

Yianni Tomaras also pleaded guilty to one count of larceny.

The allegations arise from a Saturday morning in April when the victim — whose previous friendship with the elder Tomaras soured over money — was grocery shopping at the Tramsheds IGA in Glebe.

According to police facts tendered to the court, Meneleos Tomaras confronted the man “with clenched fists” at the checkout, saying words to the effect of “come follow me outside and I’ll kill ya”.

Yianni Tomaras has pleaded guilty to affray.

The victim responded stating “I’m not going to hit you first in front of the camera, if you want to hit me, hit me” before Meneleos briefly walked away.

After paying for his groceries, the victim was then approached by both brothers with Yianni greeting him with a punch to the face, which was followed by several more.

Meneleos Tomaras and his brother will be sentenced in August.

The victim was then dragged to the ground and held down, with Yianni kneeing him in the face before landing another punch, police facts state.

At the time, the shopping centre was crowded with shoppers and families with a “number of people forced to move away, fearing for their safety”.

A bystander attempted to intervene by standing in front of the victim, with Yianni trying to push past the man to continue his assault.

The brothers then left the shopping centre, with the victim suffering significant swelling to the face and “extremely sore ribs”.

The affray occurred within Tramsheds shopping centre in Glebe.

Around an hour later, the victim was walking home with his shopping when he spied the Tomaras brothers waiting for him on a nearby corner, police facts state.

The victim told the brothers “you already got me just let me go”, and turned to try and walk away.

When his attackers started following, he warned “I’m going to call the coppers”, at which point he was again dragged to the ground.

According to police facts, Meneleos repeatedly punched the victim in the head, while his older brother continued kicking him in the ribs as horrified onlookers called out for them to stop.

Yianni picked up the victim’s iPhone 14 and took it with him when they left the scene.

The brothers were arrested later that day, when police recognised them from the supermarket security tape, while walking nearby Glebe Point Rd.

On Thursday, solicitor Mostafa Daoudie sought an adjournment for the pair’s sentencing, stating Yianni, who had a more “substantial record”, would require a sentencing assessment report.

Mr Daoudie also successfully sought to have Meneleos’ bail conditions eased, allowing him to report once a week to police.

The brothers will remain on bail and their matters will return to court for sentencing on August 6.