Hanna John Safi: Calls crucial in alleged plot to extort widower
Fresh details have emerged about how police foiled an alleged plot by jail cellmates to extort $300,000 from a man grieving the brutal murder of his wife.
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Calls intercepted by police will form a key part of the case against a man charged with trying to extort $300,000 from a widower whose wife was brutally murdered, a court has heard.
Hanna “John” Safi, 42, is accused by police of being behind the alleged plot to squeeze the money out of Khalid Qidwai.
Mr Qidwai’s wife Shahnaz was brutally bashed to death inside her Henley mansion in 2011.
Police will allege Safi conspired with the man convicted of her murder, Tony Halloun, after the men met in Lithgow jail in 2012.
Safi was on remand at the time on an unrelated charge he was eventually acquitted of.
According to court documents the bizarre and brazen alleged sequence of events were uncovered by police who had been listening in on the calls to Mr Qidwai, now 72.
Police allege Safi threatened the grieving widower and requested the money on a number of occasions between September and November last year.
Safi is currently on bail after posting a $1.2 million surety in the Supreme Court.
Appearing in the Burwood Local Court on Wednesday, his lawyer told the court police had recently provided “two large” pieces of material including phone calls and a USB of text messages central to the alleged plot.
Safi was arrested outside his Belfield home in February and charged with demand with menaces intend obtain gain/cause loss, and intending to pervert the course of justice.
Safi lives with his parents at Belfield, has to report to Campsie police station daily and has a nightly curfew as part of his bail conditions.
They also stipulate he can only leave his home for medical appointments and to travel to his labouring work.
Halloun is currently serving out a 24-year jail sentence for killing Mrs Qidwai after he was caught stealing while working on the family’s driveway.
His trial at the time heard he had threatened the family for money to pay back his own debts.
Safi’s case was adjourned by Magistrate Susan Horan to be heard back in the same court in December.
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