A former high-ranking bikie who survived an ambush that killed his brother could leave jail this year after being sentenced for hindering an investigation into the killing of a man almost a decade ago.
Tarek Zahed was sentenced to three years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of two years and four months in the NSW Supreme Court on March 12.
The sentence was backdated to his dramatic August 2022 arrest in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and he could be released in December.
The 43-year-old avoided a trial on murder and aggravated kidnapping charges in February, instead pleading guilty to one charge of hindering a police investigation of a serious indictable offence.
“The actions and orders of the offender surely played some role in making the police investigation more difficult, so much is conceded by his plea of guilty in any event,” Justice Richard Button said when sentencing Mr. Zahed on March 14.
Although Mr. Zahed will be eligible for release by the end of the year, it will be up to parole authorities to determine whether that happens, the judge noted.
Mr. Zahed directed another man to destroy Youssef Assoum’s bloodied Volkswagen Touareg after Mr Assoum was detained, assaulted and shot inside it, hindering the police investigation into his unlawful killing in December 2014.
The offence was committed while Mr. Zahed was on parole for a shooting offence, a time in which he also quickly rose through the ranks of a well-known motorcycle gang, becoming its national sergeant-at-arms, Justice Button said.
He regarded Mr. Zahed’s role in the Comancheros “a negative one”, but “not one that a thoughtless, guileless person could attain,” the court having heard Mr. Zahed otherwise operated at a reasonably low level intellectually.
Justice Button described Mr. Zahed as “a person who has set his face against the criminal law for many years, including by way of acts of violence of great gravity”.
There was no evidence of remorse from Mr. Zahed and no satisfaction for the court about positive change on his part in the future, he said.
“One can certainly hope for change, but one cannot be satisfied on balance that it will occur,” Justice Button said.
Mr. Zahed was left physically debilitated and psychologically damaged after being shot 10 times in an ambush that killed his brother at a western Sydney gym in May 2022.
He lost an eye and suffers ongoing muscular, skeletal and organ difficulties, as well as post traumatic stress disorder, all of which pose a challenge in custody, the judge said.
Mr. Zahed was dramatically arrested in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in August 2022, with police using beanbag rounds to shoot out the windows of the BMW he was travelling in.
Justice Button made no criticism of the “forceful arrest” but noted it did nothing to aid Mr. Zahed’s physical or psychological recovery.
His sentence was backdated to his arrest and Mr. Zahed will be eligible for parole on Dec. 27.
