By Goya Dmytryshchak
Crime family figure Ali Chaouk has been jailed for 24 years for murdering a member of the rival Haddara clan almost a decade after the shooting took place.
Chaouk was found guilty by a jury of shooting 28-year-old Mohammed Haddara five times in the side and back in Altona North on June 20, 2009.
Appearing via video link, Chaouk did not react as the sentence was handed down in the Supreme Court on Thursday, however he did indicate his intention to appeal the decision.
“I don’t accept the verdict, it’s unsafe. I’m appealing the decision. It’s a miscarriage of justice and it was a big shock to everyone,” he said before he was asked by Justice Kevin Bell to remain quiet.
Chaouk was jailed seven years after his one-time associate, Ahmed Hablas, was acquitted of Haddara’s murder.
Hablas confessed to the murder in the weeks after the shooting, but recanted his statement after he was charged with murder in 2010. He was acquitted at a trial the following year.
Justice Bell jailed Chaouk for 24 years, with a non-parole sentence of 18 years.
Tom Cowie/The Age
