Masood Zakaria accused of helping Sydney lawyer ‘pervert’ court case
The man cleared of providing a gun to the terrorist that shot NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng is now accused of helping a lawyer “pervert” a court case against two members of an infamous family.
Police & Courts
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The man cleared of providing a gun to the terrorist that shot NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng is now accused of helping a lawyer “pervert” a court case against two members of an infamous family.
Investigators say the alleged interference “strikes at the heart” of the justice system and documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph now reveal the full allegations made by police.
According to documents tendered in Liverpool court in the proceedings against Masood Zakaria, an Uber driver in the city’s western suburbs, was approached by two men while parked off Merrylands’ main drag in late November last year.
The pair allegedly tried to force their way into the car and attacked the driver as he fled — one allegedly coward punched him in the back of the head.
Police quickly identified Hamdi and Rafat Alameddine as their suspects and moved to arrest them in December.
Hamdi was arrested and charged with robbery in company causing grievous bodily harm and the Uber driver went into Fairfield police station to identify him.
Rafat surrendered and was hit with the same charge while the driver was asked to return to the police station to identify him.
It was a week before Christmas, according to police documents, and the driver was leaning against his car in the very same car park he had allegedly been attacked a month earlier.
He was awaiting his next job, according to the court documents, when he spotted a 4WD and two men inside.
One approached him — police allege it was Zakaria.
Zakaria has collected, according to the court documents, more than a dozen charges in his short 29 years. Police name him as an alleged member of the “Alameddine organised crime network”.
In 2016 he made headlines when he was charged for supplying the gun used to murder Mr Cheng in cold blood.
Zakaria was acquitted in a judge alone trial in 2018.
“You know brother, there was an issue with some guys and you,” police allege Zakaria told the Uber driver.
“Regarding your car, police caught two friends of mine. I know them. They are my relatives. I don’t know why police have got them.”
The court documents allege Zakaria showed the driver a picture of himself and Hamdi.
“I know this guy but I don’t know from where,” the documents recount the driver’s response.
“This guy is not the guy that hit me.”
Police allege the driver meant Hamdi was not the man who punched him but may be the other alleged attacker.
Police claim the driver, when shown a picture of Rafat, said he looked “familiar”.
Zakaria allegedly asked the driver to come to court to speak with a lawyer but the driver said he had an appointment with police.
Police will allege the driver hadn’t been specifically threatened, but he felt scared and confused and decided to tell police.
According to court documents, an hour later his phone rang, police allege it was the man who had accompanied Zakaria in the carpark urging him to come down to the courthouse.
When he went downstairs to the carpark, police allege, he saw Zakaria and the other man waiting in two white 4WDs for him. They allegedly begged him to go with them so he agreed.
They allegedly drove in silence to Fairfield Courthouse and, once there, the driver was introduced to a man in a sharp suit in the foyer. Police allege it was solicitor Hassan Hallak.
“Do you know the two guys that have been charged?” Hallak allegedly asked the driver, according to court documents.
“I know them from the pictures (that Zakaria had showed him). I don’t think these two are the ones. I need to go to the police,” he allegedly responded.
Police allege Hallak told the man “I’m your lawyer” and the driver went to sit with the Alameddines’ associates. CCTV watched much of the crew’s movements, according to the documents.
At 2:10pm, according to police, they rang the driver because he’d failed to show up to flick through photos at the station. He answered and Hallak, police allege, took the phone from him and introduced himself as the driver’s lawyer.
“We are here because the two males you have in custody did not assault my client and he is going to retract his statement in court,” police allege Hallak told them.
According to the police version of events Hallak told the officer the driver had come into his office wanting legal advice because he’d spotted a man on the police “photo board” who he was concerned had been wrongly arrested over the assault.
“How does he know who we have in custody?” the police officer allegedly responded, saying the driver had picked one image incorrectly and was expected to return for a second meeting.
According to the police document Hallak “lied during this phone call as to how he came to meet with the victim as he knew his conduct was illegal and highly unethical”.
In court, the documents allege, lawyers for the Alameddines tendered a document containing “fictitious” points invented by Hallak on behalf of the Uber driver.
The driver and the Alameddine’s associates entered the court and, the documents allege, the driver recognised Rafat as one of the attackers.
The pair were denied bail that day but, in late January, were released.
According to the court documents, Zakaria and the unnamed man who met the Uber driver in the carpark did so “with the sole intention of pressuring and influencing him” to give evidence that would clear the Alameddines.
Showing him the images, police will allege, compromised his ability to formally identify Rafat.
They allege Zakaria and Hallak were part of a joint criminal enterprise and the lawyer had no legitimate reason to be at court or to “insert himself”.
“The victim was vulnerable, having no understanding of the criminal justice system in NSW and scared due to the pressure being applied to him,” police allege in the court documents.
“The conduct of Zakaria, the second offender (who met the driver in the carpark) and Hallak strike at the core of the criminal justice system in NSW.”
Zakaria and Hallak were both charged in May this year with perverting the course of justice and granted bail. Their matter will return to court this week.
Zakaria’s lawyer, Zemerai Khatiz, indicated his client would fight the charges but refused to offer a comment.
The Alameddines will next be before the courts in August.