Murder accused was acting in self-defence, court told
A MAN charged with shooting dead two men on a Sydney street knew them to have violent reputations and had acted in fear of his own life, a Sydney jury has been told.
Farhad Qaumi, 26, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bassam Chami, 26, and his high-school friend Ibrahim Assad, 27, in Blaxcell Street, Granville, in Sydney's west, late on March 29, 2006.
His NSW Supreme Court trial was told Qaumi admitted shooting the men, but in his opening address today, Quami's lawyer Stephen Hanley said his client had been acting in self-defence.
Mr Chami and Mr Assad arranged to meet Quami outside his home on the night of the shootings to discuss an incident involving another man, Ali Mobayad, earlier in the day.
Mr Mobayad told the court Quami had taken exception to him offering a lift to one of his young relatives, and had confronted him in a "very aggressive" manner.
He said Quami pulled up beside him in his car and "leant over to where his feet were and his motion was cocking a gun back".
Under cross-examination, Mr Mobayad said he didn't see a gun, and only assumed Quami had a weapon.
He told the court Quami then got out of his car and asked: "Are you after me?", to which Mr Mobayad replied "no".
The pair ironed out their issues in a phone conversation later that day after realising there had been a misunderstanding.
But Mr Mobayad said he then told Mr Chami and Mr Assad about the incident with Quami, and Mr Chami got "a little bit upset and disturbed".
Mr Mobayad said he reluctantly handed over Quami's mobile phone number to Mr Assad, who arranged the meeting.
Mr Hanley told the court Quami went to the meeting because he was threatened by the two alleged victims.
"He had been threatened that if he didn't attend (the meeting) there would be violent consequences against him and his reputation," he told the jury.
"He feared their reputations, that they were men of violence."
He said his client did not turn himself in to police after the shootings because he had "received threats from at least one associate of Mr Assad that if he were collected by police there were people waiting for him in jail and people were looking for him".
The court was told Quami's sister's home was targeted in a driveby shooting on March 30, and then his family home was shot at in a similar incident on April 3.
After several months on the run, "the accused changed his appearance - he dyed his hair blond, because he was in fear, and in great fear of what might occur to him," Mr Hanley said.
The trial before Justice Elizabeth Fullerton continues.
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