Questions remain unanswered from Gavin Preston’s very public murder

It’s been 12 months since standover man Gavin Preston was gunned down in broad daylight at a busy Keilor cafe and there’s still much we don’t know about his very public killing.

The investigation into the murder of Gavin Preston remains an active homicide inquiry, a year on from his brutal death.

Although two men have been charged with murdering Preston, there are elements of the case which are still, publicly at least, unresolved.

Preston was gunned down in a brutal caught-on-camera shooting at the Sweet Lulu cafe in Keilor on August 9 last year.

The homicide squad will have looked into many aspects of the Preston murder, beyond those they believe carried out the crime.

There are several questions police would have addressed and which they are unwilling to talk about because the matter is now before the courts.

Investigators would have explored how whoever killed Preston would have known where he would be that Saturday morning.

The probe into Gavin Preston’s murder remains an active homicide inquiry. Picture: Supplied

Police at Sweet Lulu cafe in Keilor where Preston was gunned down. Picture: Tony Gough

The aftermath of Preston’s fatal shooting. Picture: David Crosling

They would have been trying to establish whether money changed hands, who might have wanted him dead and why.

As with many such homicides, the underworld jungle drums were beating furiously with all manner of theories in the subsequent days and weeks.

There was talk of a link to his robust standover work, enmity with a bikie gang and that he had upset a heavy Melbourne crime family.

And that’s only three of the versions which went around.

Two Sydney men were later charged with carrying out the ambush of Preston.

Jaeden Tito and Rabii Zahabe have pleaded not guilty to his murder and opted to fast-track their Supreme Court trial, most likely to begin next year.

The Preston killing was one of a succession of public murders in a period of gangland turbulence in Melbourne.

A month earlier, veteran crime figure Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Keshtiar was shot dead in the street near his home in South Yarra.

Rabii Zahabe has pleaded not guilty to Preston’s murder. Picture: Instagram

Mohammed ‘Afghan Ali’ Keshtiar was shot dead in the street near his home in South Yarra.

In October, Robert Issa died when a hit-team pounced at a Craigieburn shopping centre.

None of the three murders is believed to be connected.

What set the Preston slaying apart from almost all of Melbourne’s many underworld killings of the past 20 years was the speed with which people were able to view what happened.

By early evening, graphic CCTV footage of Preston’s demise was circulating widely online.

It appeared to show Preston had almost no time for what was unfolding to mentally register and for him to take cover before being riddled with bullets.

His friend, Abbas Maghnie Junior — known as AJ — scrambled away from their kerbside table but was still shot in the stomach, later going through eight rounds of surgery to fix the damage.

Abbas Junior is the son of slain underworld figure Nabil Maghnie, who was Preston’s old running mate more than a decade ago.

He has laid relatively low since the ambush, only bobbing up in a suburban court over some minor driving offences in July this year.

Abbas Junior Maghnie flees from gunshots that killed Gavin Preston.

The Keilor shooting was the second nasty episode of underworld gun violence to leave Abbas Junior wounded. Picture: Tony Gough

He appeared via video link before the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court, telling the court he was “a bit worried” to appear in person.

“I just got shot, your honour,” he said about nine months after the shooting.

He told the court he had “just got back on (his) feet” and was back managing his late father’s transport business.

Abbas Junior pleaded guilty to driving while unlicensed more than a year ago and was fined $500 for that matter.

The Keilor shooting was the second nasty episode of underworld gun violence to leave Abbas Junior wounded.

He was hit when his father, who was considered one of the most dangerous crime figures in Victoria, was fatally shot at Epping in January, 2020.

Abbas Junior dramatically returned to that shooting scene in a hospital gown with blood still dripping down his right leg just hours after he was shot.

Originally published as Questions remain unanswered from Gavin Preston’s very public murder