‘You’re making this up’: Friend of Hells Angels bikie Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat grilled over shooting

A defence lawyer has questioned if thieves opened fire on Hells Angels bikie Peter “Skitzo” Hewat the morning two trucks were stolen from his tow truck business.

Hells Angels bikie Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat. Picture: Ellen Smith

A defence lawyer has questioned whether Hells Angels bikie Peter “Skitzo” Hewat was shot at the morning two trucks worth almost $1m were stolen from his tow truck business.

Kader Elhouli and Joseph Khaled faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged over the break-in at Hewat’s Holdings in Craigieburn in the early hours of July 9 last year.

Ian Johnson, a longstanding friend of Hewat who then worked as a company tow truck driver, was grilled on the witness stand by Elhouli’s defence lawyer, who suggested he was lying about key details of the morning, including that Mr Hewat was shot at.

The court heard that Mr Johnson included in his signed police statement that two shots were fired by one of the suspected thieves who Mr Johnson pursued alone after the suspect dumped one truck and left the scene on foot.

However the truckie gave verbal evidence on Monday that a third shot was fired when Hewat arrived at the scene – detail not included in his statement.

Elhouli’s lawyer accused Mr Johnson of lying to avoid angering his bikie mate.

“You’re just making this up on the spot, aren’t you Mr Johnson?” the lawyer said.

Hells Angels enforcer Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat with his son, Beau. Picture: Facebook

Mr Johnson replied: “No. I’ve got nothing to lose by making it up or nothing to gain”.

The heated exchange continued, with Elhouli’s lawyer saying: “So you’re not worried if you cross Peter Hewart some bad repercussions will happen to you? You feel very comfortable with him potentially being angry at you?”

Mr Johnson told the court Hewat, an associate of 35 years, had never asked him to comply with an “unlawful direction” and that he would feel confident giving evidence against the bikie in court.

The court heard Hewat’s daughter Skye phoned Mr Johnson just after 5.30am on 9 July, 2023 to inform him about the truck thefts.

The trucks were fitted with GPS tracking technology and Mr Johnson set off in his ute to locate them.

Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat was shot at when thieves targeted his tow truck business. Picture: Ellen Smith

The court heard Mr Johnson spoke to a man in the driver’s seat of one of the stolen trucks who said he was “going to do a tow” before exiting the truck and leaving on foot.

Mr Johnson told the court he followed the man from inside his ute, during which time he claimed three gunshots were fired over the course of 15 minutes.

“I heard the bang and saw the flash,” he told the court.

Police allege Mr Elhouli was the triggerman and that following his arrest a raid of his Glenroy home uncovered a cache of weapons, including the AR15 assault rifle, the WWII Thompson submachine gun, the handgun, a knuckle duster and loads of cartridge ammunition.

At the time Mr Elhouli was the subject to a firearm prohibition order, which prohibits him from acquiring, possessing or carrying a firearm.

Mr Khaled is understood to be charged with theft of the second truck.

The case returns to court on Tuesday.