Ghassan Amoun: Bassam Hamzy’s brother released from custody

Strike Force Raptor cops watched on as Bassam Hamzy’s brother made a bid for bail, arguing encrypted messages on his phone were nothing to do with illegal behaviour.

Bassam Hamzy’s brother took his bid for bail to the Supreme Court and won after he allegedly breached rare conditions which were ordered to ease the warring Hamzy and Allamedine families.

Former Brothers 4 Life gang member Ghassan Amoun, 34, has pleaded not guilty to breaching two Serious Crime Prevention Orders which were placed on members of the Hamzy and Allamedine families in December following a spate of Western Sydney retaliation shootings.

Ghassan Amoun on the day of his arrest. Picture: NSW Police

Justice Peter Garling, who imposed the orders, determined the relationship between Auburn man Amoun and his brother posed a “real and substantial risk the applicant would engage in … retaliatory violence at the request of his brother or to maintain a close relationship with him”, the Supreme Court heard.

But Justice Elizabeth Fullerton said the breaches were not “blatantly or demonstrably connected with the commission of any serious criminal offence” and questioned whether it could be tied to the “preparation for acts of retaliatory violence” for which the orders were imposed, and granted him bail.

The 34-year-old applied for bail in Sydney’s Supreme Court on Thursday in front of his wife, as well as officers from Strike Force Raptor who dialled-in to the court.

Amoun is the brother of notorious Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy. Picture: Supplied

Police allege the orders were breached on February 19 when he had fresh Queensland plates on his Audi A4 unbeknown to police and then February 24 when he possessed three undeclared phones and a laptop.

When police approached Amoun on February 24, the day of his arrest, they found the key to his Audi in his backpack, and the vehicle was “warm to touch”, suggesting that it had recently been driven.

Inside the car they found three undeclared mobile phones, and an undeclared laptop.

The Supreme Court heard the phones had encrypted messaging applications on them and were registered to “fraudulent identities”.

Ghassan Amoun was arrested on February 24 for allegedly breaching Serious Crime Prevention Orders. Picture: NSW Police

His wife gave evidence in court on Thursday that the pair had gone to dinner at Nomad in Surry Hills the night before and she had left her laptop behind the seat in Amoun’s Audi A4.

There was also a powerful case, the court heard, that Amoun had told the police about the change of registration.

Crown solicitor Amanda Lee James argued Amoun showed a “flagrant disregard” for the orders placed by the court.

“It’s a complete breach of very serious orders put in place to minimise and prevent any association between criminal groups,” Ms James said.

“The danger is very live seeing there is a serious feud going on between Allamedine and Hamzy criminal groups.”

Barrister Ertunc Ozen said there was no evidence the encrypted software on the phones was used for criminal behaviour.

Bassam Hamzy in Goulburn Supermax in May, 2017. Picture: Supplied

“I have the WhatsApp download in my brief … The majority is fairly puerile stuff,” he said.

Mr Ozen argued Amoun had learnt his lesson after spending months locked in a cell for 23 hours a day due to the “notoriety of his brother” and a number of non-association orders on his record, before being transferred to another prison.

After considering her judgment overnight, Justice Fullerton handed down her decision on Friday.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton agreed his “possession of mobile telephones no one knew anything about” was a “blatant breach”, and showed a “deliberate disregard of orders”.

She said despite a criminal record of serious offending he had never failed to appear at court when required to.

It was ordered that Amoun must reside at an address in Auburn, and his mother must forfeit $200,000 secured by her home if he does not appear at court.

Justice Fullerton fired back at a request by the Crown to make Amoun report to the door when police officer’s knocked.

“I’m not going to entitle police officers to go to his home whenever they think they should or could,” she said.

Amoun will face a summary hearing on October 22 to argue his case against the alleged breaches.