By Heath Parkes-Hupton

Copyright news

The footage played to the NSW Supreme Court last month captured Mr Hamze strolling out of an elevator below an apartment block on Walker St, North Sydney.

It was about 9.43am on August 14, 2021, and he was wearing a Covid-era face mask and a backpack.

Only seconds before, the jury was shown, a silver Mercedes had attempted to zoom into the basement garage where Mr Hamze was about to be.

The stolen vehicle had been loitering in the street outside and had made a move after two cars exited the carpark at 9.42am.

But the sports car was not quick enough, with its driver having to slam on the breaks to avoid a closing roller door which blocked it from driving down the ramp, the footage showed.

Mr Hamze, then 26, was seen leaving the basement driving a white BMW at 9.47am, before the Mercedes circled back to the apartment building “about a minute later”.

The Crown alleges Samuel John Rokomaqisa was one of two men inside the Mercedes bearing the number plates CYA73Q who were tasked with killing Mr Hamze.

Mr Rokomaqisa, 35, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder as well as the drive-by shooting murder of Ibrahem’s older brother Bilal Hamze in the Sydney CBD on June 17, 2021.

The court has heard allegations Mr Rokomaqisa was an associate of the Alameddine organised crime network, who were in an alleged feud with the Hamzy/Hamze family in 2021.

During the lengthy trial, the jury has been told police surveillance allegedly overheard a member of the Alameddine crew saying in June 2021 “Tell Raf (that) Ibby needs to go”.

The Crown alleges Raf was Rafat Alameddine, a man the court has been told sat at the head of the crime network.

Mr Hamze was at the time suspected of leading the Hamzys’ street-level arm, the court has heard.

Mr Rokomaqisa’s barrister George Thomas put to a police witness last week that Mr Alameddine had offered a $1 million bounty for Ibrahem Hamze’s death in January 2021.

He also allegedly “engaged a Fijian or Tongan crew to kidnap Ibrahem Hamze” in February 2021, Mr Thomas said.

Mr Rokomaqisa is alleged to have been party to a conspiracy to kill the younger Hamze brother from late July 2021 to August 14, 2021 – well after the alleged plots Mr Thomas referred to.

‘You’re wrong’

The court has heard on August 14, 2021, a Highway Patrol officer saw a silver Mercedes parked in a no stopping zone on Walker St, North Sydney about 9.53am.

Senior Constable Michael Wallace told the jury he whooped on his siren, indicating for the driver to move, before it sped off through a red light.

The car allegedly accelerated away from the police car, at times driving on the wrong side of the road, before Snr Cost Wallace terminated his pursuit.

It was later found abandoned with a flat tyre in Cammeray after its occupants were allegedly involved in the armed carjacking of a Toyota Camry from an 80-year-old man.

The court has heard a DNA profile matching Mr Rokomaqisa’s was found inside the car, as well as in the Toyota when it was recovered by investigators. He also denies involvement in the carjacking.

CCTV footage allegedly captured a string of cars appearing to surveil the Walker St block in the weeks before the alleged assassination attempt and car chase.

Asked in a September 2021 police interview if he had “ever been in a silver Mercedes”, Mr Rokomaqisa replied “I wish”.

“I’ve never had anything like it,” he said.

Told police had matched DNA samples found in the Mercedes and Toyota he said “No, no. That’s wrong.”

“You can look all through my past and you can tell me, you can try and put it together, pieces together, mate, I’m telling you, you’re wrong,” he said, in the interview played to the jury.

Mr Thomas has pointed out to the jury that the DNA of other people was also found inside the silver Mercedes.

‘Retaliation’

The Crown also alleges Mr Rokomaisa made admissions in recorded phone calls to being the driver in the shooting murder of Bilal Hamze, 34, on Bridge St, Sydney.

“Bro, didn’t I prove something to everyone with that job in the city?” he allegedly said.

“Bill” Hamze had dined with a sex worker at Kid Kyoto restaurant before he was ambushed and shot three times by a gunman firing from inside a black Audi.

Crown prosecutor Katrina Ratcliffe told the jury in her closing addresses that police had no evidence of Mr Rokomaqisa’s alleged involvement in Bilal’s murder until officers began investigating him after the August 14 event.

She submitted they would be satisfied the similarities between the two events – which used stolen cars fitted with cloned number plates purchased from the same website on the same day – were “no coincidence”.

Ms Ratcliffe told the jury it was alleged the “retaliatory” shooting of Bilal and alleged plot to kill Ibrahem followed an attack on an Alameddine OCN member on June 7, 2021, which he survived.

Ms Ratcliffe said Mr Rokomaqisa had shown in intercepted recordings and messages he was keen to work for the Alameddines, and was closely associated with at least one key member.

“He quit his job on the rails to pursue this far more lucrative career,” she said.

The jury was played an audio recording from Mr Rokomaqisa’s prison cell in October 2021, while he watched a news report detailing that two more Hamzes had been shot dead.

In the recording he could be heard calling out: “retaliation. Two more Hamzes shot”.

“He’s absolutely delighted that his family – the Alameddine family – have carried out another successful relation,” Ms Ratcliffe said.

Mr Thomas told the jury that they needed to be satisfied his client was in the Audi, Mercedes and Toyota identified during the trials on the relevant dates.

He said even if they found Mr Rokomaqisa was in the “CYA” car on August 14, they needed to also be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt he was party to a murder plot.

“Because if it was less than murder, he’s not guilty.”

The trial before Acting Justice Robert Hulme continues.