Court hears details of drive-by shooting of Ikenasio “Sio” Tuivasa

A father of five gunned down outside a pool hall in Melbourne’s west was thought to be a case of mistaken identity but a court has heard dramatic new details.

Shooting victim Ikenasio “Sio” Tuivasa. Picture: Supplied

A man charged with killing a father of five in a drive-by shooting at a suburban pool hall had “jumped” one of his victim’s friends a week earlier, a court has heard.

Sekomain Vave and Nikola Latuhoi, both 26, have been charged with murdering Ikenasio “Sio” Tuivasa, 33, outside All Star Lounge in Ravenhall on February 27 last year.

Police previously suspected Mr Tuivasa was killed in a case of mistaken identity.

But new details about the shooting were aired in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday as witnesses were forced to give evidence about what they saw, heard and knew about the shooting.

The court heard Mr Vave had been in a dispute with an associate of Mr Tuivasa, Karl Pale, who was at the pool hall on the night of the shooting.

Homicide detectives are investigating if it could have been a motive for the shooting and that Mr Pale was the intended target.

Mr Pale’s brother Hedesh Pale said his brother, Karl, had been “bashed up” by Mr Vave at the Western Pho restaurant in Deer Park about a week before the shooting.

“I am aware that he was the one who jumped my brother,” he said, when asked if he knew of Mr Vave.

But he claimed he did not know what the fight was about.

Hedesh Pale said he went to the pool and shisha lounge that night with his brother and his friends but ended up gathering in the carpark after they were refused entry.

He said the owner had told them there were too many of them to be let in due to Covid density limits.

“We were all planning on leaving and going home – that’s when that car came,” he said.

He said Mr Tuivasa was at the front of the group as they walked towards their cars, when the 4WD stopped in front of them and “roughly five seconds” later, shots were fired.

“I remember seeing two hands on a gun. It looked like a rifle. Sounded like a rifle,” he said.

“All I heard was ‘get down, get down’.”

Mr Pale denied the group was waiting in the carpark for someone to come.

When shown footage from the night of him carrying a tomahawk in the carpark, Mr Pale said he had armed himself with the weapon because he was “just paranoid at times”.

“There’s always a hammer in my car,” he said.

Jordan Taia was standing alongside Mr Tuivasa when he said he saw a barrel of a gun hanging out the passenger side of an approaching car.

“Someone yelled out ‘there’s a gun, there’s a gun’. I shit my pants and I hid,” Mr Taia said, adding how he jumped behind Mr Tuivasa’s car.

He had no idea who the offender was sitting in the passenger seat, or the driver.

“They had T-shirts or jumpers covering their faces,” he said.

“I had no idea whose car it was or why it was there.”

The hearing — designed to call witnesses who police have not been able to obtain statements from — continues on Wednesday.