Arron Mathew Simmons charged over Richmond shooting
A man who got convicted murderer and Brothers 4 Life gang leader Bassam Hamzy’s name tattooed – incorrectly – on his face is behind bars on remand charged with a public place shooting in Sydney’s northwest.
St George Shire Standard
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A man who infamously tattooed gang kingpin and convicted murderer Bassam Hamzy’s name on his face with the wrong spelling has been locked up on remand charged over a public place shooting in Sydney’s northwest.
Arron Mathew Simmons, 30, was allegedly armed with a silver 9mm pistol when he was arrested by the State Crime Command’s Criminal Groups Squad in Wolli Creek on July 9.
He was subsequently hit with seven charges after a police investigation into an alleged shooting at a Richmond home in May during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in NSW.
Police allege Simmons fired a gun at the home on Old Kurrajong Rd between 4am and 4.15am on May 9, two months prior to his arrest.
He has now been charged with discharging a firearm intending to cause grievous bodily harm, firing a firearm at a home with reckless disregard for public safety, and entering a building or land while armed with a firearm.
Simmons was also charged with participating in a criminal group alongside Mohamed Hussein and Kelly Macdonell during the alleged incident.
On the day of his arrest Simmons was also charged with possessing an unregistered silver 9mm pistol, not keeping a firearm which allegedly belongs to Hussein safe, and possessing ammunition without a licence, permit or authorisation.
Simmons briefly faced Magistrate Les Mabbutt at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday via video link from Wellington Correctional Centre in the state’s Central West.
His matter was adjourned to Penrith Local Court on October 23 to join up with his co-accused’s matters prior to a possible committal to the District Court.
For reasons unclear, Simmons got long-term Supermax prisoner Bassam Hamzy’s name tattooed boldly on his cheekbones last year.
However, Simmons made a crucial error, with his presumably permanent face ink misspelling the crime lord's surname as Hamze instead of Hamzy.
Hamzy is currently in Goulburn’s Supermax prison after he was sentenced to at least 19 years’ jail when he shot a man dead aged 19 outside a Sydney nightclub in 1999 and subsequently started the Brothers 4 Life gang from behind bars.
Hamzy was sentenced to another 22 years in prison in December 2019 – and designated as Australia’s first ever extreme high-risk restricted inmate – for organising two kidnappings, torture and a drive-by shooting from behind bars on a secret mobile phone.