Karl Kachami admits to staging $3.2 million gold heist to get out of financial trouble
Watching too many heist movies and a bedside plea inspired a brazen gold robbery, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A “bungling bandit” who watched too many heist movies before robbing a gold business of more than $3 million was a “total amateur” who wanted a shortcut out of his financial woes, a court has heard.
Karl Kachami, 48, was bedridden with pneumonia, fearing he might die of coronavirus, when longtime friend Daniel Ede sat at his bedside and convinced him to help rob the Melbourne Gold Company in April this year, the County Court heard on Thursday.
Weeks later Kachami walked into the Collins St offices wearing a surgical mask and brandishing a handgun and stole gold bullion, jewellery and cash worth $3.2 million.
Inside man Ede, the sole worker at the gold business, played the role of innocent victim as he loaded the loot and safes into Kachami’s toolbox.
The stay-at-home father of three later buried the gold and jewellery at a family property in a town aptly named Dollar, in Victoria’s south Gippsland
It didn’t take long for investigators viewing the CCTV of the robbery to realise Kachami’s firearm was not loaded and observe Ede signalling to his alleged burglar which safes to target.
Kachami was arrested two days after the April 27 heist – believed to be the third most lucrative in Victorian history – and eventually led police in the dead of night, to the buried loot.
Almost $350,000 in cash remains missing.
Kachami pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, theft and possessing an unregistered firearm.
His co-accused, Ede, last month pleaded guilty to his role in the offending.
Defence barrister Philip Dunn QC, for Kachami said the “extremely unusual” case, reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.
Mr Dunn said his client had naively thought robbing the business would be a quick fix to his financial struggles after his property portfolio was hit hard by the global pandemic.
The court heard Kachami and his Chinese wife had spent $600 on canned food and were ready to relocate to Dollar believing there would be “plague in Melbourne”.
“This whole house of cards he was trying to hold up in a little dream world, perhaps as the bungling bandit he watched in far too many TV shows,” Mr Dunn said.
“He thought it would be easy … well he was pretty naive,” he said.
The court heard Kachami had no criminal history with good prospects of rehabilitation.
Owner of the gold business and longtime friend of Ede, Michael Kulkulka, said the robbery had caused him to lose faith in “mateship”.
“They did not just rob me of my gold and money, but they robbed me of my trust in friendship, I doubt I’ll ever trust anyone again,” Mr Kulkulka said in his victim impact statement.
Mr Kulkulka said his business was yet to recover from the heist with clients no longer felt safe investing with him.
Prosecutor Brett Sonnett said a substantial term of imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence for Kachami.
“Both men played for very high stakes … in terms of gravity of offending, it is at the highest end of the scale,” Mr Sonnet said.
Mr Sonnett said the crime involved significant planning including the use of a hire car with stolen plates and Kachami donning an “elaborate disguise”.
Judge Howard Mason will deliver his sentence on November 23.
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