Court shown moment Yusuf Nazlioglu stole luxury car before his murder
A jury has been shown the moment a man brazenly stole a luxury Mercedes from Sydney's CBD about a month before he was shot dead in an underground carpark.
Yusuf Nazlioglu was gunned down in front of his wife after parking beneath his Rhodes apartment on June 27, 2022.
Three men – Abdulrahman Atteya, Mohammed Hosni Khaled and Mohammed Baltagi – are on trial before the NSW Supreme Court, accused of roles in the 40-year-old's death.
All three have pleaded not guilty and deny any part in the shooting.
The jury has been told Mr Nazlioglu, who was formerly acquitted of murdering Comanchero boss Mick Hawi, hired two Mercedes vehicles from a western Sydney company in May 2022.
'Mr Nazlioglu did not return these vehicles,' Crown prosecutor Eric Balodis said during the trial's opening last week. The Crown alleges this provided 'some explanation and motive' for his murder.
A message was passed on to Mr Nazlioglu's wife, then known as Jade Heffer, that a black E-class needed to be returned before the car was 'reported stolen or worse'.
The business had Ms Heffer's driver's license on file, and men arrived at the couple's apartment on Walker St, Rhodes, on May 23.
Footage played to the court showed a number of men wearing masks or hooded jumpers in the carpark before finding the car and driving it away.
The court has heard that on May 26, the car's owner recorded a livestream on TikTok while on Castlereagh St in Sydney CBD. Ms Heffer saw the stream and spotted the car in the video.
Mr Balodis said the owner, who is not accused of wrongdoing, was 'quite dedicated to TikTok' at the time and Ms Heffer recognised the area he was in due to its proximity to high-end jewellery stores.
Mr Nazlioglu and his wife still had a key to the vehicle, the court heard, and about 40 minutes later they arrived on the scene in a white Mercedes.
CCTV captured Mr Nazlioglu jump out of the white car and run over to the E-class before unlocking it, getting into the driver's seat and speeding off.
The jury has also watched footage of the moment Mr Nazlioglu was shot eight times, and Ms Heffer – now known as Jade Jeske – gave evidence of what she heard and saw.
She recounted seeing a man running toward her then-husband armed with a firearm before hearing 'about eight' shots.
'I knew that he was going to be dead,' she told the court.
'I didn't go and touch him or go over to him. I looked at him.'
Mr Nazlioglu died the following day in hospital, the court was told.
Mr Balodis said in his opening remarks that prosecutors do not allege the men on trial had personal 'animosity' toward Mr Nazlioglu, and that his murder was organised by unknown persons.
Prosecutors allege Mr Atteya was either the shooter or the driver of a Volkswagen Golf used by the assassins on June 27, 2022. The other man believed to be in the car has left Australia, the court has heard.
Mr Atteya's barrister, David Dalton SC, told the jury his client was not involved at any stage of the murder plot and that Mr Nazlioglu had several enemies.
'Mr Nazlioglu had only been released (from prison) for some couple of months before he was in fact killed himself and there will be evidence, that as far as he was concerned, a number of people wanted to kill him.'
Mr Khaled and Mr Baltagi were not at the scene, the court was told, but are accused of preparing getaway vehicles including e-scooters to help the assailants flee.
The trial before Justice Deborah Sweeney continues.
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The volume has definitely increased over the last five years.' Mr Donchi said that the increase is largely driven by a massive shortfall in affordable housing. 'And the process of getting into public housing is becoming longer and more complicated,' he said. However, Ms Ryan said for those on the receiving end of such activism, the consequences were anything but theoretical. If a squatter refuses to leave after being asked, the property owner must typically seek a possession order through legal channels — a process that can be lengthy and complex. Real estate agents say the process of removing unauthorised occupants from a property is far from straightforward, especially if the owner lives interstate. Mr Vorstenbosch said one of the problems was the lack of recourse for property owners if something happened to their homes. 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