Wayne Flower, Mark Buttler From: Herald Sun
Australia
UPDATE 3.50pm: DEPUTY Commissioner Ken Jones has urged people not to act on any desire for revenge in the wake of Macchour Chaouk's killing.
Speaking after some comments had been made suggesting members of the Chaouk family could take matters into their own hands, Sir Ken said that behaviour would not be tolerated.
"I'm here to warn them and advise them not to take the law into their own hands," Sir Ken said.
He said police were prepared to take action if such comments were found to constitute criminal offences
Sir Ken also confirmed that Ahmed Haddara remained a person of interest in the case. Mr Haddara was questioned last week and released without charge.
Sir Ken was today asked if his statement was a shot across the bows of those who may seek revenge. "If you want to say that, yes it is."
He said the investigation into Friday's shooting was progressing well and he wanted to quell community concerns following the three deaths in two separate incidents, which were a "horrible coincidence".
Sir Ken was speaking while the Chaouk family laid their father and husband to rest with a number of Hells Angels bikies among mourners.
Chaouk's nephew took the opportunity to attack suggestions there was any underworld connection.
Members of the notorious bikie gang arrived at Preston Mosque and were embracing outside the building as the service got underway.
Their arrival came on the back of CBD killer and Hells Angel bikie Christopher Wayne Hudson paying his own tribute to the slain figure.
Macchour’s nephew Ali Chaouk, strode across the road to berate the large media contingent camped outside the funeral today.
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Flanked by another relative Mohamed, Ali attacked what he said was the media’s “exaggeration” and “beat-ups” in describing the brutal slaying as an “underworld killing”.
Instead he presented the family’s version of events in which Macchour had been “gunned down in cold blood”, disputing suggestions the family home was a compound, but was instead “modest”.
“He was killed in his own backyard in front of his three grandchildren, the oldest of them is seven years old.”
“He was murdered in front of his wife and daughter-in-law. The murderer threatened to kill Macchour’s wife before he ran away.”
Attacking what he claimed was “media beat-ups” about the case, he said the family said it hoped “the Australian justice system and police will secure the rights of the innocent victim and his family in bringing the killer/killers of this terrible crime to justice”.
Police had arrived in force at the funeral of the slain crime figure as the family warned it would not grieve - yet.
At least a dozen police descended at the Preston mosque on Cramer St, before the 11.30am start of the expected two-hour service, before Chaouk's body is taken to the Fawkner Cemetery.
Police earlier warned the large media contingent waiting nearby that authorities could not guarantee their safety, with most outlets bringing their own security guards.
Authorities were ready for any tense scenes before the service, with a long-standing antagonistic relationship between police and the Chaouk family.
In a death notice published in the Herald Sun, Hudson and his parents, Terry and Anne, say Chaouk will be "always remembered".
Chris Hudson's name is followed by the words Hells Angels MC.
He is serving a minimum 35-year prison term over a city shooting rampage in which solicitor Brendan Keilar died and Dutch backpacker Paul De Waard and Melbourne woman Kaera Douglas were badly wounded.
Chaouk, 65, was shot dead on Friday in the backyard of his family's property at Brooklyn in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Chaouk's only daughter, who did not wish to me named, told the Herald Sun her father's murderer attempted to kill her mother, too.
Suspect Ahmed Haddara, whose son Mohammed was shot dead at Altona North in June last year, was arrested eight hours after the killing but later released.
A cousin of the Chaouks, 22-year-old Ahmed Hablas, has been charged with Mohammed Haddara's death.
A death notice was also lodged by Chaouk's sons Ali and Matwali, who are in prison on remand after being charged with serious offences.
They wrote their father was "one of a kind" and would always be in their hearts.
Neither of the sons attended the funeral.
"No application has been received by any family members to go to the funeral," a Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said CV would not discuss any measures designed to protect Ali or Matwali Chaouk since their father's death.
"We do not discuss individual prisoner movements," she said. "However, we have made arrangements accordingly to ensure security."
A Chaouk family spokesman said no wake would be held on Monday.
"There is going to be no wake. We won't start grieving until the right thing happens. We won't have a wake until other right people are buried. You understand."
Macchour Chaouk will be buried at Fawkner Cemetery, alongside son Mohamed who died when shot by police in a 2005 raid.
Homicide squad detectives met up to 100 members of the Chaouk family at the Geelong Rd property where Friday's murder happened.
Det Sen-Sgt Ron Iddles said he could not comment on the investigation but the meeting had been productive.
"The purpose was to appraise them of the current status of the investigation and address any concerns they may have," he said.
