The notorious crimes that shook Melbourne’s west
Gangland killings, crime family wars and teen thugs putting their despicable crimes on DVD — welcome to Melbourne’s wild, wild west, where these notorious crimes not only shook the city, but also the world. WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
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Melbourne’s west was once the epicentre of the Gangland war, has been home to feuding Middle Eastern crime families and was site of a tragic murder where a young child was thrown from the Westgate bridge from her father.
Here are the crimes that shook the western suburbs.
THE JASON MORAN EXECUTION
Bodies had been dropping long before gangland heavy-hitter Jason Moran was shot and killed at Essendon North on June 21, 2003.
However, Moran’s execution – which took place on a Saturday morning in front of junior footballers and their parents – brought the deadly underworld war out of the shadows and into the public sphere.
Moran’s murder – alongside associate Pasquale Barbaro – set off a chain reaction which led to the ultimate demise of many of Melbourne’s major criminal players.
THE SUNSHINE CREW
Before Moran’s murder, a western suburbs gang of drug dealers, enforcers and triggermen came up via the backstreets of Sunshine.
Key members of the “Sunshine Crew” included slain underworld players Dino Dibra, Paul Kallipolitis and Andrew Veniamin.
Veniamin was right hand man and assassin for former western suburbs drug dealer and gangland Kingpin Carl Williams.
Veniamin was suspected of several gangland murders – including Dibra and Kallipolitis – before he was shot in self-defence by Mick Gatto at a Carlton restaurant in 2004.
THE DARCEY FREEMAN WESTGATE BRIDGE TRAGEDY
On January 29, 2009, Arthur Freeman pulled over atop the Westgate bridge with his daughter Darcey, 4, and two sons, aged 6 and 2 in the car.
Freeman took Darcey from the car, carried her to the railing and dropped her over the edge.
“He put both his arms on the railing, looked over the side of the railing for a couple of seconds, then just casually walked back (to his vehicle),” one witness later said.
Not only did the crime shake Melbourne’s west, it shook the world.
Freeman contested a charge of murder on the ground of mental impairment, but a jury found him guilty.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 32 years.
SICKENING WERRIBEE PUB ASSAULT
Werribee man Joel Diamond, in 2014, was jailed for 14 months after he kicked a man’s head “like a football” during a sickening attack at a local pub.
Disturbing footage captured from inside Werribee’s Commercial Hotel clearly shows Diamond take a running kick at the unsuspecting man’s head as he bends over to pick something up off the floor.
The victim was in the tavern’s sports bar when he was accused by Diamond’s brother of looking at Joel’s girlfriend Sarah Elis.
Elis, who is visible in the footage wearing thongs when she also kicks the unconscious victim in the head, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious injury earlier in 2014.
She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail with a minimum of 15 months.
The victim sustained a fractured skull, and was put in an induced coma for nine days following the attack.
Judge Susan Cohen said, during sentencing, Diamond had “treated his (victim’s) head like a football”.
CHAOUK AND HADDARA SHOOTINGS
Ali Chaouk shot and killed family rival Mohammed Haddara in the driveway of the Haddara family’s Altona North home in 2009.
Haddara’s killing sparked suspected revenge attacks, including shots fired at a car parked at the Altona North McDonald’s.
Mohammed’s cousin Sam was shot in the face while sitting in his car in Altona North.
in June, 2010.
In August 2010, Chaouk patriarch Macchour Chaouk was gunned down at his Brooklyn home.
Ali Chaouk was last June jailed for a maximum 24 years after he was convicted of Mohammed Haddara’s murder.
THE WERRIBEE DVD INCIDENT
A horrific film showing several students setting a semi-naked girl’s hair on fire brought national outrage and condemnation shortly after it emerged in October, 2006.
The students are shown on the video urinating on the girl, setting bombs off in streets, dropping flares on a homeless man and throwing eggs at taxi drivers.
The disgusting footage shows the teenage girl performing lurid acts on the boys before they throw her clothes in the mud.
Members of the gang are then shown torching her hair, pouring a cup of urine on her, then urinating on her directly.
Several youths were charged and sentenced over their involvement.
MORE CRIME SPECIALS:
MURDERS THAT ROCKED MELBOURNE'S SOUTHEAST
SCHOOL SCANDALS WHICH ROCKED MELBOURNE'S NORTHWEST
MELBOURNE'S WORST CRIMES REVEALED ON CAMERA IN 2019
POLICE OFFICER KICKED IN FACE AT HIGHPOINT
A teen offender was handed nine months probation without conviction after he kicked a defenceless police officer in the face at Highpoint shopping centre on Boxing Day, 2017.
The police officer was arresting an alleged shoplifter when the 17-year-old boy assaulted him.
The officer – was on his hands and knees when the thug kicked him in the face - suffered serious injuries.