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AAP
AAP
Miklos Bolza

Murder charges dropped for brothers over bikie shooting

Murder charges have been dropped against a bikie and his brother over Youssef Assoum's shooting. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

A senior Comanchero bikie and his brother will face sentencing over their roles in the 2014 gangland shooting of Youssef Assoum but will escape allegations of murder.

Motorcycle gang member Tarek Zahed, 43, and his younger brother Abdul Kahir Zahed, 39, were originally due to face trial on Tuesday charged with the murder of Mr Assoum.

However, crown prosecutors presented a fresh indictment to the NSW Supreme Court without the offence of murder but with lesser charges against the pair.

Tarek Zahed has pleaded guilty to hindering the discovery of evidence while Adbul Zahed has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Mr Assoum died in hospital aged 24 after being stabbed in the head and shot in the thigh in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown in December 2014.

He was tied up and detained in his Volkswagen Touareg when the violent assault occurred.

Staff at Bankstown Hospital found Mr Assoum unconscious on the roadside with Adbul Tarek.

They attempted treatment before Mr Assoum was transferred to Liverpool Hospital where he died. 

Tarek Zahed survived an attempt on his own life in 2022, being shot 10 times as he left an Auburn gym alongside one of his younger brothers.

According to agreed facts filed with the court, Tarek Zahed was involved in the attempted disposal of the VW that Mr Assoum was murdered in.

After unsuccessfully trying to get it disposed of in a wrecking yard, Tarek Zahed paid Triantafilos Vlangos to get rid of the vehicle by "blowing it up".

Vlangos allegedly tried to set the car on fire with accelerant and was arrested after police spotted the vehicle ablaze in Georges Hall in Sydney's southwest.

He has not been convicted over his role in the murder plot and no criminal findings have been made against him.

Adbul Tarek has admitted giving false evidence to police saying that the unconscious Mr Assoum lying on the roadside was his "brother".

"They just came out and the left us here. I was screaming. Wake up, wake up," he told officers at the time. 

Abdul Tarek also gave false evidence to a parole officer saying he had been hit on the head when his "distant cousin" had been attacked.

The brothers will face a sentence hearing on March 1.

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