Bikie shoots nine shots at victim’s Greendale home in standover attempt

Children were so anxious they couldn’t return to school after a Comanchero “hang around” helped shoot up a family home in Greenvale, a court has heard.

A “hang around” of the notorious Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, who was involved in shooting up a family home to put pressure on a Melbourne businessman to pay a “debt”, has been sentenced to prison.

Mustafa Akbaba, 26, appeared via video link from custody in the County Court for sentencing for three charges, including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, on Wednesday.

The court heard Akbaba, along with co-accused Comanchero prospect Joshua Brennan, left the Thomastown bar, Q Room, in a green Holden Commodore bearing false registration plates about 11.30pm on March 24, 2018.

Arriving at the victim’s family home in Greenvale just after midnight, Brennan emerged from the passenger seat of the car and shot at the victim’s home nine times using a high-powered automatic firearm.

The victim had been collecting his children from a party at the time but his wife was home when the bullets sprayed the garage and a family car.

The court heard the shooting took place just days after a patched Comanchero member demanded the businessman pay him a “debt”, which the court heard the victim had denied.

The victim was assaulted and the amount raised substantially, but the victim maintained he didn’t owe him “a cent”.

The shooting was planned by a number of gang members that night, including Akbaba, in a standover attempt to “reinforce the demand”.

The court heard evidence of the planning was captured by police, who had intercepted phone calls and obtained CCTV footage.

On Wednesday Akbaba’s lawyer submitted he had an “excellent” employment history and a strong family background but “went off the rails” in 2018 when he began to associate with the Comancheros.

Akbaba was arrested in Dallas in May. During a search of his premises police found three ziplock bags containing over 80 grams of testosterone and almost 80 grams of methandienone, as well as the clothing he was captured on CCTV wearing at the Q Room on the night of the shooting.

The court heard Akbaba “seriously” re-offended within months of being granted bail over the shooting and subsequently served a substantial term in prison.

Judge John Allen said the shooting turned the young family’s lives “upside down” and had a “devastating” and ongoing impact.

The court heard the family lived out of suitcases in hotels for weeks afterwards, before ultimately moving out of their home as a result of their fear.

The children took the remainder of the year off school due to their profound anxiety.

Accepting Akbaba’s guilty plea as being indicative of remorse and that he had tried to “stay away” from the Comancheros, Judge Allen found he was in a more stable place with employment and a supportive fiancee.

He was sentenced to 10 months in prison followed by a two-year community corrections order, with a condition to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work.

Brennan was previously sentenced to a term of imprisonment.