Mahmoud ‘Alex’ El-Etri charged for robbery over Westfield Hurstville deal
A tradie who has been stuck in Sydney since September has been allowed to return to his Queensland home with strict conditions after he was extradited over a soured business deal at a Westfield.
St George Shire Standard
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Editor's Note: All criminal charges against Mahmoud El-Etri were withdrawn and dismissed in Sydney's Downing Centre on March 30.
A tradie who has been stuck in Sydney for two months has been granted permission to return home to his family in Queensland.
Mahmoud ‘Alex’ El-Etri, 49, applied to vary his bail conditions in Sutherland Local Court on Thursday after he allegedly threatened and stole $5500 from his business partner while they were working in Westfield Hurstville.
The roofer has been charged with robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon.
The father last month failed to amend his bail but has now been allowed to change his residential address and must abide other strict conditions.
El-Etri was extradited from Queensland to NSW in September and has been living in Sydney since.
A statement of police facts tendered to court said the alleged victim was El-Etri’s business partner, who owned Homestead Cleaning Australia and sold a floor cleaning device.
The documents said the man secured a contract to sell his product at display stands in Westfield shopping centres including Hurstville and Liverpool.
In June, the man and El-Etri met in a pokies room in Redland Bay, where they both live, and became friends.
After a month, El-Etri allegedly went into business with the man and started to learn the daily operations.
On September 3, the man delivered stock worth $20,000 and allegedly stored it at El-Etri’s sister’s house in Bass Hill.
The man set up his business display in Westfield Hurstville before El-Etri allegedly joined him on September 8 to help make sales, hopeful of earning $50,000 in a week.
That night, the men went to a restaurant in Parramatta before El-Etri allegedly went into the kitchen area and returned with an UberEats bag.
They returned to their Hurstville accommodation with the bag, which allegedly contained a “brick” of cocaine and a Glock pistol.
Documents said this made the man not want to continue in business with El-Etri.
The next day while working, El-Etri allegedly became aggressive towards the man and accused him of lying and being a conman before demanding the day’s earnings.
El-Etri took hold of about $5500 in cash from the two days of sales, documents said.
The men allegedly sat down to talk with El-Etri becoming irate and allegedly refusing to return the earnings.
El-Etri allegedly opened a bumbag and showed a firearm before allegedly demanding $20,000 in seven days, the documents said.
El-Etri allegedly continued to threaten the man before allegedly leaving with the earnings.
The man allegedly received multiple threatening messages from El-Etri where he demanded money, the documents said.
The man reported the allegations to Hurstville police and showed officers a large volume of allegedly threatening messages.
The documents said CCTV from the centre allegedly depicted the arguments between the pair.
The man allegedly lost $5500 in cash and $20,000 worth of stock which documents state were at El-Etri’s sister‘s house.
Meanwhile, the man returned to his home in Queensland and an arrest warrant was issued for El-Etri.
In court, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson noted the seriousness of the allegations but agreed to vary El-Etri’s bail, imposing 15 strict conditions.
El-Etri must live at his family home in Redland Bay, report to police and can only go to the Gold Coast airport if he has a return domestic ticket for himself.
He is also unable to go north of the Sunshine Coast, which allows him to continue to work.
The court also banned him from going to the eastern side of Redland Bay, where the alleged victim lives, nor can he contact the man by any means.
Ms Atkinson warned El-Etri that if he breached his bail, he would likely spend the next couple of years in jail on remand, away from his family, awaiting the outcome of his case.
El-Etri’s case was adjourned to November 21, where he is excused from attending if legally represented.
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