‘I lost my brother and my friend’: Slain Sydney gang kingpin’s brother apologises for underworld killing
Mahmoud Ahmad has taken responsibility for the killing of Safwan Charbaji — a Sydney shooting committed by his brother and murdered gangland figure Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad.
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It was the slain “Mr Big” of Sydney’s underbelly who pulled the trigger in a gangland shooting, but his brother has apologised to the victim’s family before he is sentenced for manslaughter.
In March 2017 Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad was dramatically arrested at Sydney airport as he stepped off a flight from the Middle East and was charged with Safwan Charbaji’s murder.
Ahmad escaped to Lebanon days after his brother Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad left Charbaji with a “bullet in his head” in April 2016, agreed facts show.
“He’s a family man and he was put in the position that he had to flee this country for his life,” Justice Richard Button told the NSW Supreme Court.
Ahmad “played no part in the gunbattle” except to fire a single warning shot into the air, but in June he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, as prosecutors withdrew his murder charge.
The 37-year-old Punchbowl man now has a message for the grieving family of Charbaji, who he regarded as a friend.
“I want to apologise for what they’ve been through,” Ahmad told a psychologist, in documents tendered to his sentencing hearing on Friday.
“I take responsibility for my actions … I regret everything.”
The killing sparked a tit-for-tat gangland war involving four executions that rocked Sydney, with Ahmad saying “a lot of people suffered.”
“Charbaji died. El Masri was paralysed … I lost my brother,” he told a psychologist.
Ahmad’s brother and gang kingpin Walid was brazenly gunned down at a Bankstown shopping centre two weeks after Charbaji’s death.
While in exile overseas, Ahmad was “traumatised” by the loss of his sibling, court documents reveal.
His pregnant wife Carmen Piscioneri was left in Australia to raise their three children on her own and “was made to fear for her life”.
“He said threats against him have continued in prison,” psychologist John Machlin wrote in a report.
Ahmad claims he had no idea what started the heated confrontation outside his brother’s Condell Park smash repair business on April 9, 2016.
The violence erupted after members of the notorious Elmir crime family showed up to settle a dispute over a $100,000 debt.
Ahmad said his friend Abdullah El Masri was standing five metres away when he was shot in the jaw during the crossfire, telling a psychologist he saw “blood fly into the air” before the 25-year-old collapsed.
Agreed facts state Ahmad had taken El Masri’s gun as he lay on the ground and was heading to his car to leave when he saw Fawaz Elmir point a gun at him while driving off with his son-in-law Charbaji.
“As a result of that threat, the offender fired a warning shot above the Camry,” court documents state.
“At this time, Walid fired three shots, two of which entered the Camry through the front window, killing the deceased, who was sitting in the front seat.”
Charbaji was driven to Bankstown Hospital, but the 32-year-old died from the bullet wound.
The court heard Ahmad has a lengthy criminal history of violence and gun offences, and has been involved in several incidents behind bars.
“There’s a flavour of intimidation in terms of your client, how he behaves in custody,” Justice Button told defence barrister David Dalton SC.
“Combined with his criminal record and the objective fact that he is taking responsibility for a shooting … the prospects of rehabilitation cannot be better than guarded optimism.”
Ahmad will be sentenced next month.