Comanchero Tarek Zahed walks free after perverting justice
High-ranking Comanchero Tarek Zahed walked free after admitting to perverting justice in a fiery court session.
Police & Courts
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A Comanchero commander with an affinity for designer clothing has admitted to lying to the courts but walked free without prison time after a magistrate said he was “troubled” by the case and asked questions about it was being handled.
The high ranking underworld figure only had one thing to straighten out on the public record - he prefers Versace shirts, not Gucci.
Tarek Zahed, 39, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court where he pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and swearing a false affidavit.
Magistrate Michael Barko said the crimes “strike at the heart” of the “greatest criminal justice system in the world” that allow refugees and every type of Australian to seek justice.
The Commanchero Sergeant at Arms, known for his love of designer gear, admitted to not correcting a lawyer who had represented him in another matter.
Zahed’s lawyer incorrectly named the bikie’s workplace and Zahed’s failure to correct the lawyer meant the court was effectively misled, the court heard.
Magistrate Barko said Zahed’s lengthy criminal history, which began as a child, showed he was someone willing to lie.
But the fired up magistrate was troubled and uncomfortable, he said, about the police fact sheet before him because it named Zahed’s previous solicitor without explaining how the false information came into existence.
He worried the public could draw negative conclusions about the solicitor who handled the false documents and the solicitor had no chance to rebuke those suggestions.
The magistrate questioned how someone of Zahed’s “ilk” could produce such complex false documentation. Magistrate Barko mused that Zahed may have provided information to someone who created the document.
The magistrate also raised questions about the authenticity of other documents in the case that spoke about Zahed’s employment and community work.
He called one letter “complete crap”.
But Zahed’s barrister, Peter Lange, said the bikie’s behaviour on the evidence was toward the lower end of seriousness.
Zahed had already spent two months on remand after being arrested in April last year, Mr Lange said.
The bikie had been punished enough, he argued.
The magistrate also hit out at the “nonsense” legislation set down by parliament that determined how he could punish Zahed for some of the charges.
He urged the government to review them before handing the bikie an unsupervised community corrections order.
A jovial Zahed, wearing a Balenciaga T-shirt and flashing a black Gucci backpack, jumped out at news cameramen outside court and laughed.
He thanked the media for their attention but brought up an old photograph purporting to show him, at a previous hearing, wearing a gold Gucci shirt.
“It’s a Versace shirt,” he said, correcting the public record.
He also asked why his alleged connections to exiled Commanchero boss Mark Buddle kept warranting a mention.
Zahed won an appeal and was acquitted after initially being convicted of dealing with the proceeds of crime last year. Police, in that case, had claimed they found Louis Vuitton handbags, Chanel shoes and Gucci slippers they claimed were purchased with dodgy cash.
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