<![CDATA[Badger & Blade - Aftershaves]]>

Pair found guilty after panelbeaters shoot-out

Mark Russell
Published: May 20, 2013 - 2:11PM
Two men have today been found guilty of the defensive homicide of a Melbourne panel beater during a gunfight over a dispute involving $50,000 cash and $10,000 worth of aftershave.
Omar Taha, 34, and Ahmad Mohamad, 23, died after being shot in the panel beating shop in Florence Street, Brunswick, just after 2.30pm on August 18, 2011.
Mr Taha died at the scene while Mr Mohamad died on the way to hospital.
Khaled Moustafa, 22, and Ali Kassab, 25, pleaded not guilty to murdering both men but after a long and complex trial, a Supreme Court jury today found them guilty of the defensive homicide of Mr Taha, but not guilty of the shooting death of Mr Mohamad, after arguing self defence.
Moustafa and Kassab were remanded for a plea hearing on Wednesday.
The Crown case was that Mr Taha had been a part-owner of smash repair business CBD Panels and Mr Mohamad was a friend.
Moustafa worked in the car industry, buying and selling them. Mr Mohamad was his cousin.
Kassab was a cabinet maker working at Campbellfield who had been friends with Moustafa for years.
Police claimed Moustafa believed his cousin had stolen $50,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of aftershave from him.
Mohamad denied taking the cash and the bottles of aftershave, which allegedly infuriated Moustafa.
On Thursday, August 18, 2011, police claim both Moustafa and Kassab were armed with handguns when they arrived at CBD Panels.
The Crown case was that Moustafa and Kassab entered the premises at 2.10pm and during a heated confrontation, both Mr Taha and Mr Mohamad were fatally shot.
Mr Taha was shot in the face while Mr Mohamad was shot in the chest.
Defence barrister Philip Dunn, QC, for Kassab, who was shot in the arm and leg during the gunfight, described the Crown case as "a sand castle".
"It has been built up on a theory ... and upon a guess and at the end of the day you’re going to have to look to see what the foundations are for that sand castle to see if there is anything actually there that can satisfy you beyond reasonable doubt," Mr Dunn told the jury during his closing address.
He said Mr Taha and another man knew people were coming to the panel beating shop so "they armed themselves to teach these upstarts a lesson and terrorise them".
Mr Dunn said that after Kassab had been shot twice "he is limping, he is falling over, he is walking like Frankenstein, he can’t get out of the car, he has to be assisted in the car to go to the hospital, he is operated on in hospital, he has had a hot bullet tear its way down his leg, he has to be picked up in the street because he can’t walk, yet the Crown says don't worry about that, he is able to charge through the room shooting people, after he has been shot like that".
The defence barrister said Mr Taha had produced a gun during the confrontation and "it shows the real danger big and little boys playing with guns, if they think they can terrorise somebody, you know, they can go off, and that's exactly what happened".
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pa...520-2jw1r.html