Deaths of Roy Yaghi, Jamie Grover, Bachir Arja and Faalau Pisu deemed homicides after inquests

Three vicious gangland executions in Sydney’s southwest which claimed four lives have been referred to NSW Police’s Unsolved Homicide Unit at the close of their coronial inquests.

Three vicious gangland executions which claimed four lives have been referred to NSW Police’s Unsolved Homicide Unit, as 12 years of one family’s grief spilt over once more.

Roy Yaghi and Jamie Grover were both shot and killed by an unknown person armed with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol as they sat in Mr Yaghi’s car outside his South Wentworthville home on August 30, 2012.

On November 4 that year, Faalau Pisu, 23, was shot in the head and killed as he departed the wedding of the Comanchero’s Milperra chapter secretary at the Serbian National Defence Club in Canley Vale.

On December 18 that year, Bachir Arja, 27, was shot in the head and died instantly after answering the door at his Punchbowl home.

No-one has ever been charged in relation to their deaths and on Thursday, Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee closed their inquests, concluding all four deaths were homicides and referring them to the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Unit.

Roy Yaghi.

Roy Yaghi.

Police briefs of evidence which include the identities of persons of interest in the four killings were subjected to non-publication orders by the coroner.

After 12 long years, Mr Yaghi’s family were struck again by the enduring grief his loss evoked.

Jamie Grover.

Mr Yaghi’s daughter Adla, 23, told The Daily Telegraph her father was a devoted family man.

“My dad was a good man, he was an amazing person,” Miss Yaghi said.

“He provided for his kids, he loved his family, loved spending time with them – everything was about family for him.”

Mr Yaghi’s family was overcome with emotion as the brutal circumstances of his death were recounted for the coroner.

Faalau Pisu, 23.

Bachir Arja.

A police advocate told the coroner’s court Mr Yaghi died of multiple gunshot wounds, while Mr Grover died of complications during surgery for a single gunshot wound to his torso.

The coroners’ court heard Mr Yaghi was believed to be the shooter’s target, and no motive had been determined though he was known to police for commercial drug manufacturing.

“I extend my condolences and sympathies to you, and other members of your family,” Mr Lee said to Mr Yaghi’s loved ones.

“I want to recognise how long we’ve taken to reach this point here today, and the additional grief and trauma.”

Mr Arja, described as a “happy” man who operated a small tobacconist in Punchbowl, died on his doorstep at the home he shared with his elderly mother in a hail of bullets some residents initially mistook for fireworks.

Mr Pisu was described as a hard worker with no disciplinary issues who had, nevertheless, joined the Comanchero’s Milperra chapter in the months before his death.

More than 20 Milperra and East Sydney chapter members of the Comanchero attended the wedding, where some disagreements and a brawl had ensued before the fatal drive-by.

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