Sydney bikies: Fares Abounder described as ‘softie’ after murder
Murdered bikie Fares Abounader had the vow “Always a Comanchero” tattooed across his chest but friends said he defected to the rival Bandidos club before his execution on Saturday.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Street execution the first fatality of new gang war
- ‘Ignore red herrings’: Jury told at Hawi’s murder trial
Murdered bikie Fares Abounader had ACCA1% tattooed across his chest – meaning Always Comanchero Comanchero Always – but friends said he had defected to the rival Bandidos club in the months before his execution.
Police are investigating whether he patched over to the Bandidos for protection after his life was threatened.
Abounader was stepping out of his Mercedes 4WD in front of his Panania home on Saturday night when he was shot multiple times by a waiting gunman. He died at the scene in front his distraught wife and police are yet to arrest anyone.
He was a veteran Comanchero who once “marshalled” his fellow members for their most infamous outing – the fatal 2009 Sydney Airport brawl.
MORE NEWS
Last song for Sydney karaoke institution
Luxury cars destroyed in suspicious fire
Hidden health crisis killing 2000 Australians every year
A friend today said the slain 39-year-old was actually a “softie” who lived the bikie life because “he was just a kid who wanted all that brotherhood stuff”.
He had ACCA1% – the one per cent being the bikie sign that they are part of the one per cent who live outside the law – inked across his chest above what appeared to be an intricate version of the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of Christ’s Last Supper.
But a fatal nightclub brawl in Canberra in July, which ended in the stabbing death of Comanchero commander Pitasoni Ulavalu, was the last straw for Abounader. The brawl at Kokomo’s nightclub is believed to have broken out between Comanchero members and Abounader had grown sick of the bloody divisions in his club.
“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.
Another friend said: “He was a top bloke.”
The fact he had joined other former Comanchero in patching over to the Bandidos is a line of enquiry being closely examined by detectives.
Abounader was a key player in the airport brawl, an event which ultimately sent club boss Mick Hawi to jail and claimed the life of 29-year-old Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas.
Hawi – himself executed in 2018 – had been strutting the aisle on Qantas flight 430 from Melbourne to Sydney on March 22, 2009 while glaring at Derek Wainohu.
Wainohu was the Hells Angels president who happened to be on the same flight.
Hawi told his offsiders on the plane to order ground troops to meet them at the airport. In Sydney, Abounader got a text message and began hitting the phones.
“He marshalled the other Comanchero before they all headed to the airport. He also stopped to consult other Comanchero office bearers on the way,” his sentencing judge said.
Wainohu had done the same thing, texting for Hells Angels back-up to get to the airport.
A wild brawl erupted in the departure hall, during which Zervas was set upon with bollards and stabbed repeatedly.
One witness said Abounader was seen trying to get a man in a headlock.
The court heard he reached into his pocket containing a knife during the fight, but only managed to cut his own hand with it. A trail of blood was left as Abounader ran to an elevator and out to the car park.
Zervas died at the scene.
There was no suggestion Abounader actually killed Zervas but he stood trial for murder in 2011, over the brawl, and was found not guilty. In August 2012 prosecutors brought the lesser charge of riot, to which Abounader pleaded guilty.
He was sentenced to at least four years jail and lost an appeal in 2013 against the severity of the sentence.
Hawi was found guilty of manslaughter over the airport brawl and sentenced to a minimum three and a half years.