Allan Fares claims a misguided sense of loyalty to his friend led him behind the wheel of a drive-by shooting outside Melbourne’s Love Machine nightclub.
He looked up to Jacob Elliott and was a reluctant participant in deciding to meet Elliott before his killer friend fired four bullets at the Prahran club, Fares’ lawyer told Victoria’s Supreme Court.
“Allan Fares had no motive to get involved in this at all,” barrister Campbell Thomson said on Friday.
“Elliott is a commanding character, an A-type personality and Mr Fares, it’s clear, looked up to that.
“He had no beef with the Love Machine nightclub … what he had was misguided loyalty to his friend Jacob Elliott.”
But prosecutor Diana Karamicov said Fares’ loyalty to Elliott, then aged 18, was part of his motive in participating in the attack.
On April 14, 2019, Fares drove Elliott to the club in a stolen Porsche after Elliott’s younger half-brother Ali Maghnie was ejected for poor behaviour.
Mr Maghnie spoke to their father, slain underworld figure Nabil Maghnie, and then to Elliott, after being ejected from the club.
Elliott claims his father devised the plan to shoot at the club and he was following orders.
After driving past four times, Elliott fired four shots from the car in an act of retribution.
Patron Richard Arow, 28, and security guard Aaron Osmani, 37, died and three people were injured in the 3am shooting.
Fares and Elliott were found guilty of murder and attempted murder by a jury in April this year.
The pair, along with Moussa Hamka who was found guilty of assisting, faced the final day of a pre-sentence hearing on Friday.
Prosecutors argued Fares and Elliott deserved the maximum penalty of life in prison for shooting at, killing and injuring defenceless people.
Mr Thomson asked Justice Andrew Tinney to impose a lesser sentence and shortened non-parole period on Fares, as he was neither the instigator nor gunman, and he had good rehabilitation prospects.
He cited Elliott’s evidence at the trial that Fares “started freaking out” and “didn’t want to do it” when he asked him to meet and admitted he “did put pressure on him”.
Mr Thomson said prison would be more onerous on Fares because he has a neurological condition and has been awaiting an MRI scan for months.
Fares, Elliott and Hamka will be sentenced at a later date.
