Ali Hamad, Safwan Hussein sentenced over Guildford kidnapping of Younis Younis

An uncle and nephew who drove from Melbourne to Sydney’s west to kidnap and terrorise a stranger over breaking an Islamic marriage law have learned their fate after their brief but brutal role in the crime.

Kidnapper Safwan Hussein and his nephew Ali Hamad embraced each other tightly in a courtroom packed with their emotional family members after learning they had avoided prison following the capture of a man at Guildford.

Hussein, 42, and Hamad, 35, drove nine hours from their shared home in Hoppers Crossing, Melbourne, to Sydney’s west on January 11, 2023, when they joined the crime’s architect Kodar Faytrouni and Abud Elkerdi to capture Faytrouni’s brother-in-law Younis Younis.

They demanded he divorce his wife Hanadi because they married under an Islamic contract without telling the family.

On Wednesday, Sydney District Court heard how Hussein and Hamad did not know Mr Younis but Hussein carried out the kidnapping and assault out of “misguided loyalty” for his friend, Faytrouni.

Hamad mostly went along with him because, under the family’s cultural and religious beliefs, he could not remain at home in Melbourne with Hussein’s wife.

Safwan Hussein puts victim Younis Younis in a headlock after he was kidnapped.

Kodar Faytrouni was the group’s ringleader.

The three men stormed a house on Guildford Rd to capture Mr Younis while Hamad waited in the BMW sedan where Hussein placed him in a headlock and Faytrouni held the victim’s arm. After he left the front seat to kick Mr Younis, Hamad filmed the ordeal on his phone.

The then 25-year-old victim was assaulted more when he was shuttled to a nearby home at Guildford to see Faytrouni’s father, Imad, and his mother.

Ali Hamad will be avoiding jail. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Safwan Hussein called himself a ‘disgusting animal’. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

The packed courtroom heard that, while his sister was on the phone from Melbourne in tears, Faytrouni yelled at her husband to “divorce divorce, divorce’’ his wife.

After leaving the unit, the horrific event stopped when police pulled up the car, which the court heard was bound for Melbourne.

Judge Stephen Hanley said while he accepted Hamad could not stay in Melbourne without his uncle, he had ample opportunity to withdraw from the criminal enterprise but instead was “involved rather enthusiastically’’.

Hamad pleaded guilty in July to taking and detaining a person in company with intention to obtain advantage and take in company with intention to get advantage occasioning actual bodily harm, for which he received a 12-month community correction order.

The court heard Ali Hamad’s role was less serious than his uncle’s part in the kidnapping but he participated ‘enthusiastically’. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

He was convicted and sentenced to an intensive correction order for the first charge of 22 months and 15 days to expire on February 3, 2027.

Hussein, who called himself a disgusting animal and conceded the kidnapping was the “worst mistake in my life”, had pleaded guilty to taking/detaining a person in company with intention to obtain advantage and common assault.

He was sentenced to an intensive correction order of three years, to expire on March 23, 2028, and must perform 150 hours community service.

He was convicted and must also undertake a rehabilitation program.

Judge Hanley said while Hussein’s criminal record included break and entering and driving with drugs in his system, there was a large gap since his offence in 2018.

“This (kidnapping) offence indicates an escalation, however, which I’ll take into account his prospects of rehabilitation,’’ Judge Hanley said.

“He now accepts they’re erroneous and ill-founded beliefs and rejects them.”

The court heard about the pair’s psychological trauma growing up in Lebanon.

Father-of-three Hamad migrated to Australia in 2017 after being exposed to war and violence in his homeland. His younger brother was fatally shot aged 37.

Hussein’s mother died when he was 19 and he had suffered the death of a child. He was stabbed by a mentally-ill person in 2022.

Hussein is due to give evidence in the trial of Imad Fatrouni this month.

He is fighting charges of taking or detaining a person in company with intent to obtain advantage.

Elkerdi and Kodar Faytrouni have pleaded guilty to taking or detaining a person in company and are due to be sentenced this month.