Thornbury gun robbery: Ahmed Al Hamza and Adem Hammit plead guilty to gun possession
Bandits armed with a handgun, sledgehammer and crowbar were in and out of a Thornbury gun shop in a few minutes as new details of the heist – including how one robber kept watch over a “hunched” employee – have emerged.
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Dozens of semi-automatic handguns stolen from a northern suburbs firearms store were bound for the black market, a court has heard.
Key players caught with the guns stolen during the brazen heist at O’Reilly’s Firearms in Thornbury faced the County Court on December 16.
Ahmed Al Hamza, 22, and Adem Hammit, 20, both pleaded guilty to a rolled-up charge of prohibited person possessing a handgun.
Hammit also pleaded guilty to theft after he drove a stolen Toyota Kluger which was used in the High St heist.
Police launched a statewide manhunt for the four male bandits who stormed the store on January 29, 2018.
One of the men, armed with a handgun, grabbed store attendant Peter Cassidy by the neck and dragged him to the middle of the store.
The gunman stood watch while Mr Cassidy was “hunched” on the floor.
A second man jumped the counter and struck the wall-mounted handgun cabinet twice with a sledgehammer.
A third man smashed the cabinet with a crowbar.
The bandits stashed 37 handguns – including several 9mm Glocks and Berettas – into bags and fled the store.
The two-minute heist was over when the crooks sped off in the stolen Kluger.
The car was dumped in nearby Clapham St after the guns were transferred to a Mazda 3 owned by co-offender Nathan Johnson.
Investigators tracked mobile phones owned by Hammit and Johnson.
Police tracked Al Hamza and Hammit to Al Hamza’s Docklands apartment on February 5.
Covert police observed the pair transferring the guns to an Audi.
Al Hamza and Hammit legged it when Special Operations Group police pounced but they were arrested shortly after.
Police discovered the guns concealed in pillow cases.
A loaded gun also stolen from O’Reilly’s was located in a fire hose cabinet opposite Al Hamza’s apartment.
Al Hamza – who was shot in 2016 – said the gun was for “protection”.
Hammit was charged with armed robbery but the charge was withdrawn.
The court heard Al Hamza was bailed in March 2018 but was remanded again in February, 2019 after he was charged with murder.
Before then he had spent seven months at disgraced rehab clinic The Wellbeing Planet.
His defence counsel submitted Al Hamza had been a “standout resident” of the clinic but a report of his time at the rehab centre – which was to be relied upon in the plea – was later withdrawn.
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Hammit’s defence counsel submitted his client was merely a “spare pair of hands” and the gun possession was “transient possession”.
Prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the court the guns were “bound for the black market”.
Judge Martine Marich will sentence both men at a later date.
Johnson, 22, was sentenced last June to time served – 483 days – and a two-year community corrections order.