Police allege Ayman Manly shot Mohammad Chami dead following deadly love triangle

Police have told a court that a love triangle involving two Sydney underworld figures and a woman was behind the shooting death of one of the men on a quiet suburban street.

Police remove Mohammed Chami’s body from the crime scene. Picture: Tim Hunter

A love triangle involving two Sydney underworld figures and a woman was the alleged motive behind the shooting death of one of the men on a quiet suburban street, according to court documents.

The woman is alleged to have been in a relationship with Mohammad Chami.

Police allege that when Chami — a feared underworld enforcer — went back to jail, he became “convinced” the woman was intimately involved with other men, including Ayman Manly, a longtime associate of the Haouchar crime clan.

According to court documents, the suspected romance infuriated Chami who, when released, organised to meet Manly for a “fist fight” to sort out their differences — where police allege the latter pulled out a gun and shot Chami dead.

Manly was last week charged with Chami’s murder by NSW Police detectives, but during a bail application this week his lawyers disputed it was at all clear that he was the man who pulled the trigger and argued for his release, citing credible threats to Manly’s life which had made him “vulnerable” behind bars.

Police arrest Ayman Manly in Drummoyne in December last year. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Court documents tendered during Manly’s bail application in Downing Centre Local Court detail how the alleged conflict began after Chami heard the woman was “associating with a male in a white Lamborghini” — the same type of car Manly was known to regularly drive.

Despite the woman insisting she “didn’t sleep with no one”, Chami allegedly sent threatening texts to Manly.

“Straight up bro I’ve tried to beleave (sic) your side of the story but I just can’t except (sic) it, it doesn’t go in to my brain. Plus you should never have got her a place to stay or fixed up her car or had anything to do with her at all.

“Now straight up we have to have a crack one on one then I’ll leave at that… one way or another it’s gota happen so up to you let’s make it quick and quite (sic) or make it hard and slow”.

Mohammad Chami was shot dead at Holroyd in March 2022. Picture: Channel 7

Court documents detail further text exchanges on March 2 and into the early hours of March 3, 2022, allegedly between Manly and Chami, attempting to organise a meeting.

Manly allegedly proposed a location to meet in Yagoona, to which Chami responded: “I’m 100/ comeing (sic) ... then will put this s*** between us to bed then we eatswaa (sweet).”

But police allege while Manly sent several messages and made calls to Chami over the next 45 minutes to tell him he was waiting, they went unanswered.

“Where are u man, u coming or u talking s***,” Manly allegedly texted.

The allegedly planned meeting between Manly and Chami failed to materialise that night, but court documents state over the next 24 hours attempts to arrange a face-to-face meeting continued.

About 11.37pm on March 3, Chami had an associate drive him to Fox St in Holroyd.

The associate told police Chami handed him a knife and told him to “watch (his) back” before he saw two men — both wearing dark clothes and Covid masks — emerge from an underpass at the end of the street.

As Chami walked towards the men, he allegedly said “let’s go c***”, at which point police allege the “shorter” of the pair pulled out a gun and “held it on its side” before shooting him dead.

The court has refused bail for Manly. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Manly’s barrister Ertunc Ozen SC told Magistrate Christopher Longley a witness earlier that day allegedly overheard Chami on the phone arranging to meet a person for a fight named “Ali, Aman or Ayman”.

Mr Ozen suggested the person on the other end of the phone may not have been Manly, but his close associate Adi “Ali” Kalal — a man who police allege in court documents had also been involved in an intimate relationship with the woman, however he is not accused of any wrongdoing by police.

“The witness can’t say if the deceased was talking about Ali, Aman or Ayman,” Mr Ozen told the court.

“The deceased was angry, he did become aware there was more than one person engaged in an affair with the woman… he may have had an argument with Mr Manly (over the phone), he didn’t have a (physical) fight with him.”

“There is an attempt (by police) to colour this in the most nefarious way possible, I encourage Your Honour to focus on the actual evidence.”

Mr Ozen proposed strict bail conditions including a $5m surety consisting of property deeds put forward by a family friend.

Chami’s body was left on the side of the road in Holroyd. Picture: Tim Hunter

He said Manly had recently been informed by police that there were credible threats against his life, leaving him living in fear in custody.

“He’s been warned that there are risks, which police take very seriously, on his life,” Mr Ozen said.

“He’s vulnerable in custody, especially if he’s a target.”

Magistrate Longley refused Manly’s application for bail, citing the apparent strength of the case against him, and remanded him in custody.

Manly’s solicitor Mahmoud Abbas was contacted but refused to comment. The case will return to court in November.

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