Malcolm Brown
smh.com.au
Six members of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club and one member of the Hells Angels went on trial in the Supreme Court in Parramatta this morning charged over a violent brawl at Sydney Airport in 2009 in which a man was killed.
On trial before Justice Robert Hulme are Mahmoud Hawi, 30, Farres Abounader, 29, Canan Eken, 28, Zoran Kisacanin, 24, Christian Menzies, 28, and Usama Potrus, 28.
Each has been charged with murder and riot and four have been additionally charged with affray.
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The seventh man, David Padovan, 27, a member of the Hells Angels, has been charged with riot and affray.The jury, empanelled this week from a pool of 3000 people, comprises eight men and seven women. Of these 15, 12 will eventually deliver verdicts in the trial, which is expected to take up to six months.
In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Natalie Adams went through the events at Gate 5 and at the check-in area at Sydney Airport's Domestic Terminal on March 22, 2009.
She went through the account of five Comanchero boarding a plane to Sydney and when they arrived recognised the president of the Hells Angels, Derek Wainohu.
She told the jury that there were a series of telephone calls and text messages and the result of that was that seven Hells Angels confronted a group of Comanchero at the airport and there was a violent confrontation seen by staff and other onlookers.
She said that, before the altercation, Anthony Zervas’s brother Peter was summoned by text message to come to the airport. Antony came with him.
Ms Adams said that Anthony Zervas, who was not a Hells Angel, had died of head injuries and stabbing and that the attack on him had continued when he was on the ground.
The trial continues.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/bikies-go-on-trial-over-airport-killing-20110525-1f3fr.html#ixzz1NQOkSXLS