Mick Hawi murder accused Jamal Eljaidi granted bail for $1m
A mysterious benefactor will pay $1 million in cash to secure the freedom of the man accused of driving the getaway car when notorious bikie Mick Hawi was assassinated with a volley of bullets to the head, chest and shoulders in Sydney’s south.
St George Shire Standard
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A mysterious benefactor will pay $1 million in cash to secure the freedom of a man charged over Mick Hawi’s murder.
Jamal Eljaidi’s family and friends burst into tears as the man accused of driving the getaway car when the notorious bikie was shot dead outside Fitness First in Rockdale last year was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
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Eljaidi, 32, grinned on the audiovisual link as Justice Robertson Wright described the case against him as weak.
“The evidence of the applicant’s involvement is significantly limited,” Justice Wright told the court.
“The CCTV footage may on proper examination provide some foundation for the prosecution but on the examination which I was able to give it, it did not appear to mount a strong case for identification of the applicant as being involved in the matters recorded on that footage.” As well as the $1 million payment, Eljaidi will be subject to stringent bail conditions including an electronic monitoring anklet, a curfew from 10pm until 6am, and double daily reporting.
The court heard Eljaidi could be trusted to comply as he had travelled to Lebanon — which has no extradition treaty with Australia — after the arrest of his co-accused and still returned to the country.
He will also have to face two local courts on a string of drug and driving matters prior to the murder trial, which begins on July 27 next year.Eljaidi has pleaded not guilty to prohibited drug supply and drug driving and will face a summary hearing at Burwood Local Court on October 29. He will also face Sutherland Local Court on October 10 after he pleaded not guilty to possessing 7g of Stanozolol, a synthetic steroid akin to testosterone.
Former judge and Queen’s Counsel Greg James said the defence would rely on phone records to prove Eljaidi was not at the scene when Hawi was publicly gunned down in February last year.
“We have obtained from the prosecution the applicant’s call charge records, indicating the whereabouts of the use of his phone at the relevant time,” Mr James told the court.
“They are inconsistent with his presence at the scene which would be essential in proving that he was the driver — if he’s linked to his own phone at the time, he’s not there.”
The Crown Prosecutor also conceded a pistol allegedly found with Eljaidi’s DNA was not the weapon used in Hawi’s murder, though he argued its presence inside a garage where the alleged getaway cars were also stowed connected Eljaidi to the crime.
Police will allege former Comanchero bikie boss Hawi was murdered after a financial dispute. “It’s alleged that the deceased was involved in a financial dispute and he wanted to be paid $250,000 to $300,000, it is asserted, for some services rendered to the other persons,” Justice Wright told the court. “One of them did not agree with the payment sought … shortly after 12 noon on February 15, the deceased was murdered.”