Ahmed Al Hamza found not guilty of Roxburgh Park shooting murder

Ahmed Al Hamza has been found not guilty of the shooting murder of a man found dead outside a Roxburgh Park home in 2017.

Ahmed Al Hamza has been acquitted of the shooting murder of a young man discovered dead outside his home in Melbourne’s north.

Al Hamza was found not guilty by a Supreme Court jury of killing 21-year-old Anwar Teriaki after almost two days of deliberations.

The verdict comes more than four years after Mr Teriaki was shot three times when cornered in the doorway of a Roxburgh Park home on August 9, 2017.

Prosecutors had submitted Mr Teriaki was allegedly ambushed in a baseball bat attack by Al Hamza and another man, Maytham Hamad, but managed to flee, throwing a rubbish bin in their way as the pair chased him.

His body was later found 300m away, in the front doorway of a nearby home.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors argued Al Hamza had been fingered for the murder by his getaway driver, who they say had been pressured by Al Hamza to take the fall for the violent killing.

Mr Teriaki’s body was found at the front door of a Roxburgh Park home.

Mourners arrive at the scene of Anwar Teriaki’s shooting in Roxburgh Park. Picture: Nicole Garmston

But defence barrister Damian Sheales, for Al Hamza, said the entire case against his client hinged on the story of the getaway driver – whose identity is suppressed.

Mr Sheales said the witness was “central, pivotal, and you must believe him” in order to convict.

Jurors retired to deliberate on Monday afternoon before returning shortly before midday on Wednesday to deliver their not guilty verdict.

Al Hamza is regarded by police as well-connected among the upper echelon of Melbourne’s northern suburbs underworld.

Anwar Teriaki.

In 2016, he was wounded in a shooting ambush outside the Al-Diwan restaurant in Campbellfield.

He had during that period been linked to a heroin syndicate involving older, more senior gangland figures.

Al Hamza pleaded guilty two years ago over holding guns stolen in a dramatic 2018 heist on the O’Reilly’s Firearms store at Thornbury.

A court later heard covert police watched Al Hamza at his Docklands apartment with an associate transferring guns in pillow cases into an Audi motor vehicle.

A loaded gun also from O’Reilly’s was later found in a fire hose cabinet opposite the apartment of Al Hamza, who said he needed it for protection.

The Herald Sun has been told he is a suspect in at least one unsolved shooting.

One police source said Al Hamza was charismatic, smart and always tried to learn from his interactions with the law.

“He doesn’t jack up the cops,” the source said.

Al Hamza is believed to be an associate of kickboxer Omar Bchinnati, who survived a fatal fight night shooting at Kensington in 2019.

Bchinnati had reportedly been left vulnerable at the time because Al Hamza had been behind bars.