Strike Force Raptor patrols funeral of slain bikie Farres Abounader
A huge police presence has surrounded a Western Sydney church for the funeral of a career bikie murdered outside his home. SEE THE PICTURES
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A huge police presence has surrounded a Western Sydney church for the funeral of a career bikie murdered outside his home.
Dozens of mourners — mostly men wearing black, with buzz cuts, mohawks and tattoos — arrived at Saint Charbel’s Monastery in Punchbowl to farewell veteran Comanchero Farres Abounader.
Armed officers from Strike Force Raptor — the squad devoted to driving the gangs out of NSW — checked each guest off a list as they arrived at the front gate, searching one man and asking him to lift the ankle of his trousers.
There was only one prayer on the order of service — an apology to God.
“Remember me Oh! Lord in you kingdom. I am very sorry for having offended you. Please forgive me,” the message read.
Abounader was executed in cold blood by a shooter lying in wait at his Panania home just before midnight on August 29. He is believed to have “patched over” to the Bandido gang in the months before his death.
It is illegal for bikies to wear club leathers or insignias in public in NSW with just the odd Harley Davidson logo appearing among the crowd, which was restricted to 100 people under state health orders.
A large cohort was forced to stand on the Highclere Ave pavement and watch as Abounader’s white coffin was taken to a waiting car.
Mourners wept on the front steps of the church as a woman carrying a framed photo of Abounader led the rose-covered coffin to a car. They blew kisses as his body was driven away.
Criminal Groups Squad detectives watched over the proceedings and police in unmarked cars cruised past to keep an eye on the crowd.
Abounader was a veteran and well connected Comanchero, close to murdered club boss Mick Hawi, and once “marshalled” the troops for the club’s famous 2009 Sydney Airport brawl.
Friends said he lived the bikie life for its camaraderie.
But it was the underworld’s lethal grudges which tormented the final months of his life, then ended it.
He told Judge Paul Conlon in October that a Glock pistol found in his possession was for his own protection because there was a “hit on my head”.
Police had even tried to warn Abounader he was a marked man.
“He indicated that about six months ago there was a (police) officer who contacted him by telephone telling him that he needed to see him and that it was important,” Judge Conlon said in his sentencing remarks.
The court heard Abounader asked the officer “just be honest with me is someone trying to get to me” to which the officer responded “pretty much yes”.
Abounader had tried to leave the Comancheros after serving jail time over the airport melee. He is believed to have “patched over” to the Bandidos, possibly for protection.
He was a devout Comanchero for years, with the acronym for “Always a Comanchero a Comanchero Always” tattooed on his chest but the gang had succumbed to rotten divisions in recent times and he wanted out.
Those who knew him said the last straw was a nightclub brawl in Canberra in July suspected to have broken out between gang members and ended with the death of Comanchero commander Pitasoni Ulavalu.
“He didn’t like the fact that there was a lot of bad blood in the club. It’s not what he joined for,” a source said.