Loubna Kawtharani admits to role in death of Ross Houllis

The events leading up to the death of 28-year-old Ross Houllis after the sale for Airpods organised on Facebook can now be revealed more than a year later.

A Bankstown mother-of-three who posed as a buyer for Airpods on Facebook Marketplace has admitted to her role in luring a man to his death in February last year.

Loubna Kawtharani, 28, faced Campbelltown Local Court on Friday where she pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory before the fact to an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

A police fact sheet has revealed the role Kawtharani played in luring 28-year-old Ross Houllis to a Wakeley carpark in Sydney’s west before he was fatally beaten to death on February 14, 2020.

Loubna Kawtharani has pleaded guilty to her role in the death of Ross Houllis. Picture: NSW Police.

The revenge-plot came as Kawtharani and her co-accused, Sami Hamdach and Abdul Karaali, found Mr Houllis had been selling fake Apple Airpods on Facebook Marketplace with his brother.

The pair had been advertising them on their sister’s Facebook page before continuing communication via text, with Mr Hamdach paying $150 for the fake earphones on February 13.

Following the realisation they had been duped, police allege Kawtharani agreed to assist her de facto partner by setting up a meeting with Mr Houllis “under the guise she was interested in purchasing Airpods”, according to the police fact sheet.

“In setting up the meeting, Kawtharani knew Hamdach intended to confront Mr Houllis and foresaw the possibility of the assault,” police allege in court documents.

Ross Houllis, aged 28, died after an assault in Wakeley in February 2020. Picture: NSW Police

About 4pm on February 14, Kawthrani reached out to Mr Houllis using the username Elle Kay inquiring about the Airpods.

“Is this still available? Please very interested for Valentines,” she wrote.

Mr Houllis’s brother Matthew replied, saying they were available and issued the victim’s phone number, to which Kawthrani messaged at 8.30pm.

“Hey I messaged about the AirPods when is best to come pick up,” she wrote, prompting an exchange between the two.

Mr Houllis offered to make the exchange the following morning, but Kawtharani pushed for it to be that same nights.

Shortly after 9pm, Mr Houllis called his brother if he knew who Kawtharani was and asked if he was going to come with him to make the exchange, but his brother asked if he could go by himself, according to court documents.

Kawtharani arrived at 9.17pm and sent a text to Mr Hamdach: “Make sure there are no cameras that see your plate number”.

Mr Hamdach and Mr Karaali then allegedly arrived at the agreed carpark at 9.21pm with Mr Houllis arriving on foot ten minutes later.

According to the police fact sheet, the pair “immediately demanded money and set upon Mr Houllis and assaulted him in the carpark before he was walked down the street”.

The assault allegedly continued until 9.43pm when the pair fled and left Mr Houllis lying unconscious on the ground.

Mr Houllis suffered catastrophic brain injuries including multiple intracranial haemorrhages, significant brain swelling, squashing of the brain and significant brain herniation.

Loubna Kawtharani will face court in May for sentence over her role in Mr Houllis’s death after he attended a shopping centre on Bulls Road, Wakeley, to meet a potential buyer for items he’d advertised online. Pictire: NSW Police.

He also had fractures to his fourth and fifth left ribs, a lung contusion and a lung collapse.

The neurological team at Liverpool Hospital found the traumatic brain injury was not survivable and he died on February 17.

On February 15, Mr Hamdach and Kawtharani’s home was searched by police and she handed over her phone, allowing them to search through her messages and call records.

Kawtharani was arrested on March 19 and released on conditional bail. She is due to be sentenced in May.

Mr Hamdach and Mr Karaali remain before the courts.