Sixteenth person charged over shooting of Mongol bikie Rocco Curra in Bulleen
A sixteenth person has been charged over the attempted hit on Mongols bikie Rocco Curra, just days after a trio of men were linked to the crime.
Police & Courts
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A sixteenth person has been charged over the attempted hit on Mongols bikie Rocco Curra last August.
Echo Taskforce detectives last night charged a 25-year-old Hampton Park man over the ambush on Mr Curra at Bulleen.
He is facing counts of attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, recklessly causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing serious injury and criminal damage by fire.
He appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last night and will reappear in February next year.
Echo investigators had on Tuesday charged four other people, on top of 11 charged in January over the Curra attack.
Mr Curra had arrived at Bulleen for a meeting in the evening on the night he was shot.
Thirty seconds later a stolen silver BMW pulled over and two men armed with 9mm handguns allegedly climbed out and opened fire.
Twelve shots were fired, four of them hitting Curra in the head and torso.
Among them was Finks bikie Sione Hokafonu.
In July last year, Hokafonu, 26, was shot as he left a hotel at Fountain Gate in Melbourne’s east.
It comes after three people arrested over the shooting will be held in custody until February.
The trio were charged on Tuesday by detectives from the Echo taskforce following a so far 15-month investigation.
The group were arrested in a series of raids on Tuesday morning along with a fourth person – a 40-year-old Rosebud man — who was later released pending further inquiries.
The three charged with attempted murder were; Athar Almatrah, 30, from Brooklyn, Tavita Sua, 28, from Narre Warren and Poiva Sita, 29, from Hampton Park.
All three appeared in virtual hearings at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday night but there were no applications made for bail and all three were remanded in custody to reappear on February 2 for a committal mention.
Raids were carried out by officers from Echo, southern metro divisional response unit, the special operations group, the critical incident response team and the Australian Federal Police’s anti-gangs squad.
Curra, 31, was shot repeatedly late at night after he arrived at Bullen for a prearranged meeting.
Two men in a stolen silver BMW, armed with 9mm handguns, allegedly pulled over, got out and opened fire.
Twelve shots were fired, four of them hitting Curra in the head and torso.
Nine people were charged earlier this year by officers investigating the ambush.
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