Hotelier's pub brawl turns ugly

Joanne Young leaves the Supreme Court with barrister David Campbell / Pic: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

MILLIONAIRE hotelier Les Young told police his estranged wife was a violent thief and drug dealer, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.

Mr Young also had Joanne Young evicted as he took drastic measures to get her out of his life and seize the upper hand in any Family Court proceedings, the court was told.

Following Mr Young's complaints, police arrested her at dawn and charged her with 46 offences. Mr Young also had her thrown out of her home at the Wiley Park Hotel, which she managed for him, with nothing but the clothes on her back.

He then had her possessions boxed up and tried to charge her $900 per box to get them back.

But his plan backfired. All the charges were thrown out and police settled a case brought by Mrs Young for malicious prosecution.

Yesterday her former husband failed to appear in court to defend her claims against him for malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest and imprisonment. The court was told he did not intend to appear.

"It seems so nasty, so wrong, so badly motivated," said Justice Christine Adamson, hearing the case in his absence.

Mr Young, 68, who also owns the Guildford Hotel and used to own Norton's in Leichhardt, wanted to "expunge her from his life", Mrs Young's barrister, David Campbell SC, told the court. While Mr Young's empire was worth more than $10 million, Mrs Young, 57, "was left with nothing", Mr Campbell said.

They met when she was working as a barmaid at the Wiley Park Hotel, lived together from 1989 and married in 1992 while she worked as unpaid manager of the hotel. "(She) did not consider it necessary to be paid as she and the defendant were operating as partners in business and life," the court heard.She got a wage only after they separated in about 1999, when she continued as manager.

The court was told that, at 7.15am on July 17, 2006, she was woken in a raid by 10 police.

She was allowed to change into tracksuit pants and a T-shirt and taken to the police station - but never allowed back to collect any possessions.

When the case got to Burwood Local Court, police admitted they had not conducted their own investigations but relied on Mr Young when he told them she was dealing drugs from the hotel and had stolen money.

Police found no drugs but Mrs Young was charged with fraud and the Supreme Court heard Mr Young "perjured" himself by stating she had no right to sign cheques by herself and that the hotel's account, usually at around $150,000, was only $50,000.

He did not tell police that, a few days earlier, he had transferred $323,160 from that account, Mr Campbell told the Supreme Court.

Justice Adamson reserved her judgment.

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Killed after brawl with a gangster

Gunned down ... Naser Ghaderi. Source: The Daily Telegraph

WHEN Naser Ghaderi stepped in to help a mate in an argument nearly eight years ago, he had no idea the man he confronted was allegedly a key player in one of Sydney's most violent gangs.

A few weeks after the fight at a Persian New Year's Eve party, Mr Ghaderi, 25, and his friend Keyvan Ghajaloo, 24, were killed in a drive-by shooting in The Rocks.

No one has been charged with the 2005 murders but yesterday it was revealed that police have linked the deaths to a notorious gang responsible for a string of shootings starting in 2002.

Detective Sergeant David Chambers told Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon yesterday, at an inquest into the deaths, that police believed Mr Ghaderi's opponent was Ahmed Alfadly, a founding figure in Assyrian drug gang Dlasthr - "The Last Hour".

Sgt Chambers said Alfadly was at the event to recruit new gang members when he began arguing with a friend of Mr Ghaderi who, as the "unofficial leader" of his group, became involved in the fight.

"Unfortunately for Ghaderi, he was unaware of Alfadly's criminal connections and his preparedness to solve disputes with the use of a firearm," he said.

The two men were separated, but a few weeks later Alfadly tracked down Mr Ghaderi and his friends on Hickson Rd in The Rocks, the inquest heard.

"Are you the boys from the Persian party?" he allegedly said from behind the wheel of a VW Bora.

The front-seat passenger then opened fire. Shots were fired from either the car's back seat or a trailing BMW.

Alfadly left for Kuwait five days after the shooting and has never returned.

Sgt Chambers said police had tried several strategies - including phone taps and cultivating Alfadly's associates as potential informants - but the Director of Public Prosecutions didn't believe there was enough evidence for a murder charge and extradition order.

He said two other Dlasthr members, Raymon Youmaran and Danny Hurmz, had been identified as possible participants in the killings. At the time of the shooting, Youmaran had been in hiding for more than three years after shooting dead Dimitri Debaz in 2002.

Youmaran was later jailed for at least 13 years for the crime, while both he and Hurmz were named as "persons of interest" at a 2011 inquest into the death of Ramon Khananyah, shot at Fairfield's Babylon Cafe in October 2005.

Mr MacMahon said the evidence against the key police suspects was "cogent" - but not strong enough for a jury to convict them. He referred the case back to the homicide squad.

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Jurrah witness account leads to brawl

A man stabbed in a Parafield Gardens home invasion, chilling new footage of Jill Meagher\x92s final moments and Shane Watson hits back on his return from India

POLICE set up a mobile command centre in the centre of Alice Springs yesterday after a fight outside the Supreme Court assault trial of former AFL star Liam Jurrah.

One man suffered a cut to the mouth after being punched during an adjournment in the trial, after a key witness claimed Jurrah had taken no part in the assault upon his cousin Basil Jurrah at Little Sisters town camp in March last year.

Bruno Wilson, 23, told the court he had lied to police in a statement last year when he claimed Jurrah had hit his cousin three times with a nulla nulla during a brawl between feuding family factions.

Mr Wilson said he was with Jurrah and a number of other men and women who went to the camp to "finish what the problem was" between the groups, which stemmed from the death of a young man many months earlier.

A scuffle breaks out near the Alice Springs Supreme Court during day three of Liam Jurrah’s assault trial. Vision: Channel Ten

He told the jury that Basil Jurrah was armed with a machete inside the town camp and that the two groups had sworn at and taunted each other before the confrontation.

Mr Wilson said a group of about nine men had chased Basil Jurrah to the backyard of a house, where he was punched and knocked out - before another man, Christopher Walker, used the blunt side of an axe to knock out the victim's front teeth.

Mr Wilson said that while Liam Jurrah was present, he was unarmed and did not assault Basil Jurrah.

Former AFL footballer Liam Jurrah arrives at the Alice Springs court house for his assault trial. Picture: Justin Brierty

Other witnesses, from the rival group, have previously told the court Liam Jurrah was armed with a weapon and had joined Mr Walker in the attack.

Mr Wilson told prosecutor Steven Robson he had lied to police in an interview in July last year, when he told a detective Liam Jurrah had hit Basil Jurrah three times with a nulla nulla.

"I said that, but it was not true ... I felt under pressure from the detective," Mr Wilson said.

He rejected a claim by prosecutor Steven Robson that he was lying to the jury to protect Liam Jurrah, who has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully causing serious harm to Basil Jurrah.

During the lunch adjournment, members of the feuding groups yelled at each other across the road, before a heavy police contingent intervened.

Another witness, Murray Woods, told the court that he was hit in the back of the head when the group invaded the camp, but that Liam Jurrah had helped him to another house and ensured he was all right.

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