Brittany McGuire claims she nearly died at Kensington shooting
The stepdaughter of Tony Mokbel says she was using drugs to cope with the prison stabbing that left her gangland father fighting for his life, while revealing her own ‘near-death’ experience.
Police & Courts
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Tony Mokbel’s stepdaughter has told a court how she feared for her life when an unknown man pulled a gun on her at a boxing match where a young father was killed in a deadly shooting rampage.
Brittany McGuire said her memory of the night in which four men, including her boyfriend Abdullah El Nasher, allegedly opened fire at the crowded fight night in Kensington was “vague” because she was high on a cocktail of prescription pills and alcohol.
Ms McGuire told the court she had been taking Xanax and Valium because her father “was in a coma” after a brutal prison bashing two weeks earlier.
“My dad was in a coma, I wasn’t worried about anything else in anyone else’s life,” she said.
But the gangland darling said “practically nearly dying” at the fight night instantly sobered her up.
Ms McGuire returned to the witness box for a second day of compulsory examination after earlier refusing to co-operate with the murder investigation by making a statement to police.
The 23-year-old said the unknown gunman pointed what appeared to be a handgun at her chest as she stood beside one of the accused men, Mikhael Myko near the exit of the Melbourne Pavilion on March 1 last year.
Asked to describe the gun, Ms McGuire said she could not.
“I don’t know what type of gun it was, I’m not a gun specialist, I’m a hairdresser,” she said.
Ms McGuire said she believed the gun “got stuck” when the man tried to pull the trigger, giving her an opportunity to run to safety.
She said she quickly jumped in a cab with her best friend, Shane Pericic, and cousin Anthony Mokbel and went back to her apartment in Port Melbourne.
Asked if she made any inquiries as to whether her friends or boyfriend had been injured in the shooting, she said she did not.
Craigieburn father, Ben Togiai, was shot dead outside the venue and two other men were seriously wounded in the attack.
Police believe the deadly shooting was sparked after an altercation between two groups of men at the boxing event organised by gangland figure Mick Gatto.
Kickboxing crook Waleed Haddara was yesterday warned by Magistrate Duncan Reynolds he could face contempt charges after he repeatedly refused to give a straight answer to questions about the shooting which occurred at the event he was headlining.
Mr Haddara, who was jailed in 2010 for mistakenly shooting his cousin in the face, initially said he “couldn’t recall” stepping over the body of a badly bleeding man in the wake of the shooting.
He told prosecutors even if he did remember, he wouldn’t saying anything because it’s not his “business”.
“I’m not a snitch,” he said.
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“Say I did know something, I’m not going to say anything,”
“I just got out of jail, I want to move on with my life,” Mr Haddara said.
The professional fighter eventually conceded he did remember seeing the body of the injured man but was only focused on getting his 12-year-old son out of the venue.
The four accused – Mr Myko, Mr El Nasher, Ali El Nasher and Osamma Allouche – have been charged over the shooting.
The hearing continues.