Underworld links to nightclub shooting probed
Prosecutors are probing links between a double fatal drive-by shooting at Love Machine nightclub in Prahran and a bikie’s daughter being kicked out and banned from the club weeks before, a court has heard.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An underworld figure’s daughter was booted from the Love Machine nightclub just weeks before a double-fatal shooting, a court has heard. And a key witness was in a prison punch on with the same figure just six months earlier.
Prosecutors are probing links between the shooting and the ejection of a female patron believed to be the daughter of bikie-linked Nabil Maghnie. The young woman was banned from the Prahran nightclub for six months just three weeks before the drive by shooting, a court heard today.
New details of the shocking murders were revealed during a special hearing at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court which compelled a security guard, who had not been co-operating with detectives, to give evidence.
Joseph Hosri, who was in charge of making sure “big tattooed, scary people” didn’t enter the club, said he doesn’t remember a girl being ejected. Security guard Aaron Osmani and nightclub patron Richard Arow died after the shooting in the early hours of April 14.
Mr Maghnie’s son, Jacob Elliott, 18, has been charged with two counts of murder over the deaths.
He has also been charged with three counts of attempted murder. Prosecutor Kevin Doyle questioned Mr Hosri about a young man being kicked out of the club on the night of the murders.
Mr Hosri, who no longer works at the club, said he “very, very vaguely” recalled a male being removed.
“If you want to know the truth about that night, all I recall is a friend dying in my hands,” Mr Hosri told the court, adding it had been a difficult six months since the killings.
He said he didn’t believe slain security guard Mr Osmani was involved in the ejection of the man before the shooting.
Mr Hosri resisted a prosecution application to close down the court due to safety concerns.
He said he had no such concerns and would not answer questions in closed court.
His lawyer William Barker said his client believed closing the court would create a greater safety risk.
A second man, Mohamed Omar, was also compelled to give evidence.
Mr Omar, who is currently in custody on unrelated matters, said he never worked at the nightclub, but would often hang out there with his cousins who worked on the front door.
Asked by Mr Doyle if he ever got in a fight with Mr Maghnie at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in September last year, Mr Omar answered: “maybe”.
After being shown footage of the “punch on” between the men at the prison’s gym, Mr Omar conceded he did remember it but said the fight was “about nothing” and denied there was ongoing animosity between the pair. “We’re actually friends now,” he said.
Mr Hosri told the court he had only met Mr Omar once before and he would hang around the nightclub “because he had nothing better to do”. The security guard also revealed he had heard rumours about issues between the club’s management and outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Mr Hosri said he wasn’t aware of any club security staff having links to bikie gangs.
“If they did, I would not have them working there,” he said.
MORE NEWS
GLOBAL CHAOS AS THOMAS COOK COLLAPSES
STRAWBERRY NEEDLE FOUND IN BIRTHDAY CAKE
CREEK DISCOLOURATION SPARKS PROBE
The investigation into the double murder remains ongoing as detectives look for offenders who torched vehicles allegedly used in the shooting. Mr Hosri denied suggestions by prosecutors he instructed crowd controllers to speak to people in a car seen driving by the club on April 14. Along with accused teenager Jacob Elliott, Allan Fares, 22, has also been charged with two counts of murder and three of attempted murder. Moussa Hamka, 25, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder, possessing a firearm, stalking, making threats to kill and other offences.
The three men will face a committal mention in November.