Police seek to force group to testify over boxing shooting
Detectives have applied to use special hearings to pressure a group of people to reveal any information they have about a triple shooting outside a Kensington boxing event in which one man died and two were wounded.
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Gangland investigators will use special hearings to compel more than 10 people, including the de facto stepdaughter of Tony Mokbel, to say what they know about a deadly fight-night triple-shooting.
Others to be hauled before the court include a Middle Eastern crime figure, a convicted killer, a gun trafficker, and a victim of the shooting.
Detectives from the Echo task force have made applications to compulsorily question more than 10 people about the shooting outside the Kensington boxing event, attended by 1000 people, in March that left one man dead and two wounded.
The tactic, which is increasingly being used in high-profile murder investigations, forces witness to give evidence under oath in front of a magistrate. Those who refuse to answer, or lie on the stand, can be subject to criminal charges.
Among those to face compulsory examinations are:
BRITTANY McGuire, the daughter of Tony Mokbel’s ex. She has been photographed in the past with one of the men charged with the shooting.
FADI HADDARA, a convicted drug and gun trafficker, and his brother Waleed, a leading kickboxer jailed over a 2010 shooting.
BOXING champion and convicted killer Khalid Baker.
WESTERN suburbs fight game figure James Roesler.
OMAR Bchinatti, who was wounded in the shooting.
It is believed all have so far refused to assist police.
They are believed to have been served with subpoenas forcing them to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court next month.
The Echo task force, which investigates Middle Eastern organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs, has made the applications.
Four men have been charged over the drive-by shooting that left young father Ben Togiai dead and two others wounded on March 1.
They had become involved in an altercation with a group of men at a boxing evening at the Melbourne Pavilion in Kensington.
Abdullah El Nasher, 27, of Brunswick, has been charged with the murder of Mr Togiai.
Michael Myko, 25, has been charged with attempted murder after he and Abdullah El Nasher were arrested in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown a week after the Kensington violence.
Ali El Nasher, the 28-year-old brother of Abdullah, was charged with attempted murder and other offences after handing himself into police four months later.
Coburg man Osamma Allouche, 24, has also been charged with the murder of Mr Togiai.
All four are charged with the attempted murder of Mr Bchinatti.
A court heard this month there was a flare-up between two tables of guests about 15 minutes before the shooting.
The Haddara brothers were among patrons at the Kensington fight night.
It is the second recent case of Magistrates’ Court hearings being used in an attempt to extract answers for homicide investigators.
Witnesses were this month quizzed in court over the double-fatal drive-by shooting at the Love Machine nightclub in April this year.