Source : Perth Now news
An alleged youth gang affiliate has been released on bail after prosecutors withdrew a murder charge over a teenage boy’s drive-by death.
Ater “Eila” Good, 16, was gunned down in Fitzroy, in Melbourne’s inner northeast, shortly after midnight on January 3 in an alleged retaliatory attack following a double stabbing in Carlton on New Year’s Eve.
Police allege Eila was associated with the Fitzroy-based 6z youth gang, with associates of the gang alleged to have carried out the Carlton machete attack on two people associated with the H-Town Boys, a youth gang from Heidelberg.
In the weeks following Elia’s death, four young men alleged to have been associated with the H-Town Boys were charged with his murder.
One of these men, Omar Omar, 20, was released on bail by the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday after the court was told prosecutors had dropped his murder charge the day prior.
Instead, Mr Omar has been charged with assist offender, with police alleging he helped those responsible for Elia’s death after the fact.
Opposing bail, Crown prosecutor Nadia Kaddeche conceded the prosecution was unable to precisely frame how they allege Mr Omar assisted Elia’s killers at present due to the recent change in charges.
But she said prosecutors were opposing bail due to Mr Omar’s alleged links to the H-Town Boys, pointing to communications and photos with others allegedly associated with the gang.
It’s further alleged he provided access to a car park in his apartment block for the vehicle used in the murder.
Justice Rita Incerti, who presided over the hearing, was critical of the Office of Public Prosecutions for “not being able to give me a skerrick of information” to allow her to assess the strength of the prosecution case.
“It’s not satisfactory, what you’re telling this court is we can’t even give an indication,” she said.
Barrister Felicity Gerry KC, for Mr Omar, urged the court to be “extremely cautious” of the prosecutions’ characterisation of the H-Town Boys as a youth gang.
“In terms of what the H-Town Boys actually are – it is a group of people who live in Heidelberg and come from Somali heritage,” she said.
“It’s a huge step, in our submission, to suggest he is associated with a gang … there are live questions whether there is a gang at all.
“The whole basis for the Crown’s opposition to bail is certainly speculative and mislabelling the young people of Heidelberg.”
Dr Gerry told the court there was scant evidence Mr Omar had more than “casual contact” with people alleged to be affiliated with the H-Town Boys.
She said her client was a young man with no prior criminal history, a loving family prepared to support him and a job offer with a house painter.
A court was previously told the H-Town Boys and the 6z have allegedly been engaged in tit-for-tat violence dating back to the 2022 death of Khalid Mahat.
Mr Omar was granted bail by Justice Incerti, who said it was “impossible” at the present moment to make a judgment on whether the prosecution had a strong or weak case.
“You are charged with helping or assisting those three people knowing what they had done,” she said.
Justice Incerti said she had heard too many cases over her years on the bench of young people, like Mr Omar, who had “found themselves in terrible situations”.
“This is your chance, your opportunity and only you are responsible for what you do,” she said.
Mr Omar was seen hugging excited family members as he was released from custody on Friday afternoon.
Three young men – Shakib Abdul Kadir, Abdijalil Warsame and Sella Rabih – remain accused of Elia’s murder.
The quartet will next appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in November.
None have been required to enter pleas.
