Broadmeadows thug Al Housine Hilmi jailed for kidnapping man from Sylvania Hotel

A man was tormented, beaten and threatened with a shotgun after he was kidnapped from a Campbellfield pub in broad daylight.

Al Housine Hilmi kidnapped a man from the Sylvania Hotel in Campbellfield in 2019. Google.

A drug-addled thug kidnapped a man from a Campbellfied pub in broad daylight before tormenting and pointing a gun at his victim during the savage eight-hour ordeal.

Al Housine Hilmi, 29, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to a minimum four years’ and six months’ jail after pleading guilty to charges including kidnapping and intentionally cause injury.

The court was shown CCTV footage of Hilmi savagely bashing and kidnapping the 29-year-old victim in the carpark of Campbellfield’s Sylvania Hotel just after 12.30pm on June 20, 2019.

The attack began in the doorway to the pub before Hilmi dragged the man to Hilmi’s car, stomping on him in the process, and unsuccessfully tried to put him in the boot.

The victim called for help before Hilmi put him in his back seat and drove to his Broadmeadows home.

The court heard the kidnapping was witnessed by patrons and a hotel employee, with one calling police.

At his home, Hilmi tormented the victim and pointed a loaded double barrel shotgun at him.

The court heard police had found a photo on his phone of the shotgun being held to the victim’s head.

Hilmi’s accomplice, Michael Economou, arrived at the house just after 5pm, right before covert police arrived to survey the property, having tracked down Hilmi’s car.

Police watched Hilmi, Economou and the victim get into the car then followed them to Bundoora Shopping Centre, where CCTV footage captured showed the victim was bleeding.

The pair then picked up a third offender in Bundoora before police followed them to Brunswick.

The court heard the three offenders went into a property, leaving the victim in the car, before a neighbour called police to say she had heard males yelling, including one shouting to ‘put the knife down’.

The offenders got back in the car and drove to Campbellfield, where police pounced on the car before 9pm.

Hilmi and the third offender tried to run from the scene, but all three offenders were arrested.

A .45 loaded revolver containing six rounds fell from the car in the process.

Police also seized almost 25 kilograms of GHB mirror drug 1,4 butanediol from a car at Hilmi’s Broadmeadows home.

The victim, who was beaten during the ordeal, was taken to hospital with multiple facial injuries.

The court heard Hilmi, who was on bail and serving a community correction order, was the “ringleader” of the kidnapper crew.

Economou, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping, was unemployed at the time and on bail for stealing a bobcat.

His lawyer submitted Economou, from Greece, was a “bit lost” at the time of the offending.

It was submitted Economou was just a friend of Hilmi who had been asked to “come along”.

However, Judge Duncan Allen, during an earlier court hearing, queried how Economou became involved in “gang-type criminal conduct” with a loaded pistol “out of nowhere”.

Judge Allen accepted there were “significant distinguishing features” between Hilmi and Economou’s offending.

“(This is) a very serious example of kidnapping,” Judge Allen said.

Hilmi was jailed for a maximum six years and two months.

Economou was slotted for a maximum of two years’ and six months’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months.

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