Guildford man Jawad Al Hussein found not guilty of manslaughter after driving into floodwater at Bevendale, west of Goulburn

A Sydney man has been found not guilty of manslaughter following the deaths of two friends, who were washed into regional floodwaters after standing on the back of a ute.

Jawad Al Hussein outside court during his trial. Picture: Dylan Arvela

A Sydney man has been found not guilty of double manslaughter after an ill-judged decision to drive through a flooded causeway in regional NSW.

Jawad Al Hussein, 43, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of manslaughter with a jury hearing seven days of evidence at Goulburn District Court before 125 minutes of deliberations resulted in not guilty verdicts.

Al Hussien was also found not guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death. He did not give evidence during the trial.

The trial centred around the evening of October 31, 2022, when Al Hussein’s Mitsubishi Triton stalled in floodwater on Rugby Rd at Bevendale, about 70km west of Goulburn.

His friends Ghosn Ghosn, 30, and Ibrahim ‘Bob’ Chahine, 32, were standing on the tray alongside a dog before being dragged into the Prestons Creek torrent.

Ibrahim Chahine was known to his friends as Bob.

Ghosn Ghosn’s body was pulled from the water three days later.

Mr Ghosn’s body was recovered three days later more than a kilometre downstream while Mr Chahine was not found for a week with it located some 2km from the causeway.

The court heard the group stopped near a “road subject to flooding” sign where Toufic Alameddine and Al Hussien swapped seats as the former was “reluctant” to drive through the water.

The court heard Mr Ghosn and Mr Chahine left the Toyota Kluger they were driving and stood on the tray alongside a dog.

After the vehicle stalled, Al Hussein, Mr Alameddine and the dog were able to make it to safety as the ute was dragged into the creek.

The group stopped near this sign before progressing through the flooded causeway. Picture: Google Maps

Al Hussein struggled to find reception to contact triple-0 shortly after 11pm, however, due to the weather and the isolation, police were unable to reach them until 2am.

Defence barrister James Lang asked the jury to “bear in mind the reality for the accused at the time”.

Al Hussein now faces two back-up charges of negligent driving occasioning death which will be mentioned before Judge Julia Baly SC on Monday.