Hamzy case: Notorious underworld family talk freedom deal with police

Two members of the Hamzy underworld family have begun their legal negotiations with police who want to restrict everything from where they go to how much cash they have.

Two members of the Hamzy underworld family have begun their legal negotiations with police who want to restrict everything from where they go to how much cash they have.

NSW Police are seeking rarely used powers called Serious Crime Prevention Orders to quell the underworld feud which saw Hamzy family patriarch Mejid executed at his front door in Condell Park on October 19.

Mejid Hamzy was gunned down outside his family home in Condell Park.

Two of the men police want restricted by the special court orders are Mejid’s brother Ghassan and his cousin Ibrahim Hamzy.  

Lawyers for police want the case expedited so the orders can approved by a NSW Supreme Court judge before Christmas. 

But lawyers for the Hamzys, who have likened the orders to an “oppressive dictatorship”, want until early next year to prepare their case against them.

Lawyer Ahmed Dib said the timetable police want is not feasible to defend his clients.

The court today heard both sides had agreed to spend the next 48 hours negotiating a possible set of “interim” restrictions the two men can agree to live by.

Ahmed Dib, who is representing both Hamzy relatives, said he was willing to look at interim orders proposed by police if it meant getting the longer timetable to prepare his clients’ case.

“It’s a short term sacrifice for a longer term gain,” he told The Daily Telegraph today.

“We do not want to rush it as this could impact their lives for quite a longtime. The ramifications of these orders being sought and imposed would significantly affect their quality of life.

“The timetable proposed is simply not feasible on behalf of defence.”

Under the orders the men would be forbidden from leaving NSW, possessing more than $10,000 cash, and must give police all their online account details for banks, emails and social media.

They cannot have encrypted messaging apps and police would be free to search their phones.

Police have been desperate to suppress the movement and interaction of underworld figures associated with the Hamzy clan and their long-running rivals the Alameddines, since Mejid was shot dead by masked gunmen.

There is no suggestion anyone from the Alameddine family was responsible for Mejid Hamzy’s death. 

Initially, Public Safety Orders were issued by Criminal Groups Squad boss Detective Superintendent Robert Critchlow which immediately banned 22 individuals from going into neighbourhoods known to be frequented by their rivals.

But those orders only remained in place for 72 hours.

The next weapons police intend to use to stop the underworld planning and executing more tit-for-tat hits are the Serious Crime Prevention Orders.

However the orders require a wealth of evidence from police to convince a judge that an individual’s usual freedoms must be withdrawn to protect the community, even if that person has not committed a crime.

The case will return to the Supreme Court on Thursday where a judge will hear whether an agreement has been reached between police and the Hamzys.