A drug dealer is standing trial accused of breaking into a house and killing a man over a debt.
Bahra Youseff has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Adnan Salameh, 30, who was killed in front of his partner on November 30, 2020.
Youseff, whose lawyer told the NSW Supreme Court admitted he was a drug dealer, denies any involvement in Salameh’s death in Tregear, in western Sydney.
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Opening the trial today, crown prosecutor Sylvie Sloane told a jury Salameh’s partner bought $1500 worth of cocaine from the accused on credit around six weeks before the alleged murder.
But Youseff is accused of breaking into the partner’s house with another unknown man and shooting Salameh when he lunged at him, after they did not settle their debt.
The Crown alleged one of the intruders yelled “sit down and don’t come towards us” after breaking into the granny flat, and shot Salameh when he did not comply.
Both alleged intruders were wearing balaclavas, and the shotgun has not been found.
The jury was told Salameh and his partner were selling drugs to fund the couple’s substance addictions.
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Both Salameh and his partner had used the drug ice shortly before the killing.
Sloane said the Crown would argue CCTV footage shows Youseff’s car doing laps around the area in the lead-up to the incident, while phone tower data would put him in the area as well.
The jury was told Salameh and his partner broke into a house two of their friends lived in on November 8, 2020, and stole some money.
When the accused was informed of the break-in, he messaged one of the victims “so they have money now”, the Crown alleged.
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Defence lawyer John Stratton said the case was unusual because “virtually everyone crucially involved in the case … were involved in taking drugs, and buying and selling drugs”.
But Stratton forecast the prosecution would not produce forensic evidence linking Youseff to the murder, nor produce a witness who could identify him as being involved.
He claimed Salameh’s drug use escalated in the weeks leading up to his killing, alleging he was refusing to pay drug debts and ripping people off he was selling drugs.
“There were very many people who seemed to have motive to at least cause harm to Mr Salameh,” Stratton said.
Accepting crown evidence phone towers put Youseff in the Tregear area on the night of the shooting, he said that would not be unusual as he frequented the area while selling drugs.
A police officer who attended the house shortly after the shooting told the court Salameh’s partner was sitting next to the deceased when she arrived.
The partner is said to have told police “they kicked the door in and shot him, why did they do this”?
The six-week trial in front of Justice Sarah McNaughton continues.
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