Row over debt led to Hamzy shooting: court
A Sydney man has been accused of shooting the aunt of notorious criminal Bassam Hamzy after his mother was bailed up over a debt recovery fee, a court has heard.
The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to shooting with intent to murder Maha Hamze through the front door of her Auburn home.
The 28-year-old, who is on trial in the Downing Centre District Court, is accused of leaving Ms Hamze, who was at home with a young child, with eight bullet wounds, mostly to her lower body, on March 9, 2013.
The court heard on Thursday the shooting came after a debt recovery involving a "notorious character in NSW's criminal milieu" - Bassam Hamzy.
Crown Prosecutor Lou Lungo told the court the defendant was recorded telling a Lithgow prison inmate he asked Hamzy to collect a $20,000 debt owed to the defendant.
Hamzy's cousin, Bilal Hamze, then collected the money for the man.
Mr Lungo said Bilal Hamze and associates later approached the man's mother, whom he lived with at Marrickville, demanding a $5000 fee for recovering the debt.
The man later said he would get Bilal Hamze back for what he did to his mother, the court heard.
"The Crown says this is why the accused went to the home of Maha Hamze on March 9, 2013," Mr Lungo said.
Maha Hamze is Bilal Hamze's mother.
During a recorded conversation at Lithgow prison with an inmate, the man said "lucky I didn't do worse".
Police later searched the man's Marrickville home and found the Glock pistol in his lounge room.
The man's barrister, Julia-Ann Hickleton, said her client pleaded guilty to possessing the pistol but denied being the person who shot Ms Hamze.
The court heard the man was allegedly with another person when Ms Hamze was shot.
Ms Hickleton said the man knew people in jail because he had been there between 2009-2012.
She asked the jury to set aside any prejudice they had about the world in which her client was involved.
"It is a world that may, when you hear about it, shock you," she said.
"That was his world and the consequences of belonging to that world are his consequences."
The trial continues.
