Mick Hawi murder trial: Nazlioglu and Eljaidi found not guilty of bikie shooting
After deliberating for five days, a NSW Supreme Court jury has found two Sydney men accused of the notorious 2018 hit on bikie Mick Hawi not guilty of murder.
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Two Sydney men accused of assassinating former bikie boss Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi have been found not guilty of murder.
Lone Wolf bikie Yusuf Nazlioglu was accused of shooting Hawi outside a Rockdale gym in 2018, while 32-year-old Jamal Eljaidi was the alleged getaway driver for the ex-Comanchero chief’s infamous hit.
After deliberating for five days, a NSW Supreme Court jury found both men not guilty of murder on Thursday.
Eljaidi silently walked out of court a free man, while Nazlioglu remained behind bars on unrelated charges.
His best friend Ahmad Doudar was accused of being the mastermind behind the killing and was originally charged with murder.
But on the day the trial was due to start in July, the 40-year-old Lone Wolf bikie pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder.
Doudar was not called to give evidence during the trial, and the Crown relied on crucial DNA evidence linking Nazlioglu and Eljaidi to the alleged second getaway car in its circumstantial case.
“The person who shot Hawi was Yusuf Nazlioglu... the driver of the vehicle at the time was Jamal Eljaidi,” Doudar’s agreed facts state.
Tow truck driver Moustafa Salami was accused of picking up the silver Toyota Aurion two days after the shooting and moving it from a Bexley safe house to Rosebery.
But on July 10 prosecutors withdrew his accessory after the fact to murder charge.
After the verdict was handed down, a female relative of Hawi yelled at Nazlioglu and Eljaidi in court.
But after watching the trial everyday, Hawi’s widow Carolina Gonzalez was not there.
The Daily Telegraph understands she was at the funeral of veteran Comanchero Farres Abounader, who was shot outside his Panania home on August 29 after ‘patching over’ to the Bandido gang.
Having just endured a third Father’s Day without her husband, Ms Gonzalez told Doudar’s Supreme Court sentence hearing: “My sons are broken.”
“Their life is so empty now because of a bunch of cowards who decided to play god,” she said tearfully on Wednesday.
“There will come a day, Ahmad, when you will stand before the ultimate judge and you will not be able to make a deal or plead to save yourself… your punishment will be eternal and divine.”
The jury rejected the Crown case that Nazlioglu shot Hawi multiple times in the head, face and shoulder as he sat in his car on February 15, 2018.
Fitness First receptionist Stephanie Nicolaou broke down in tears while listening to her own terrified triple-zero phone calls, telling the jury she ducked for cover as bullets ripped through her workplace, fearing the shooter may come for her next.
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Fellow eyewitness Chris Kounavis said the masked gunman was “running around like a headless chook,” flailing his arms wildly as if he were “doing the chicken dance” seconds after unloading a volley of gunshots.
Eljaidi then drove Nazlioglu in a silver Mercedes-Benz to a nearby street where the stolen car was set on fire with explosives, prosecutors alleged.
The Crown alleged the pair then jumped into the Aurion which was later seized by police in Rosebery, and a forensic expert told the jury that DNA linked to both men was found inside.
But Eljaidi’s barrister said he was a panel beater, insisting his DNA could have been “innocently transferred” if he’d repaired that car in the past.
David Dalton SC said Eljaidi was “far too tall” to be either of the two men caught fleeing the burning getaway car on CCTV footage after the murder, arguing at 199cm, he was “in NBA territory.”
Nazlioglu’s DNA was also found on a balaclava containing gunshot residue which was stashed inside the car, experts testified.
But the unlocked Aurion wasn’t found by police until a month after the shooting, and the balaclava also contained DNA from at least two other people, Nazlioglu’s barrister Avni Djemal said.
Crown prosecutor Luigi Lungo told the jury Nazlioglu’s “possible motive” was the breakdown of his friendship with Hawi, which first soured during a 2016 Central Coast fishing trip.