Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
A married father-of-four jailed over his involvement in a brutal gangland brawl at Ballina airport has engaged two prominent Sydney lawyers in a last-ditched bid to avoid prison.
Alameddine crime clan associate John Ray Bayssari, 31, was handed a 12-month jail sentence in December last year after pleading guilty to a single count of affray over the February 2021 melee, which took place in front of terrified holiday-makers.
Video footage of the public punch-on showed Bayssari and a fellow Alameddine associate take on three members of the rival Hamzy gang near the Virgin Australia luggage carousel after the five men caught a flight from Sydney to Ballina on February 6, 2021.
Among the Hamzy associates was Ghassan Amoun, who was shot dead outside a South Wentworthville laser clinic 11 months later in an alleged gang-related killing.
All five men were subsequently charged by police, with documents tendered to Parramatta Local Court saying all were clearly identified on the airport’s high-quality CCTV cameras.
Bayssari was handed a six-month non-parole period at his sentencing in December but was released on bail after lodging paperwork to appeal the sentence the same day.
He has since recruited well-known Sydney solicitor Abdul Saddik and barrister April Francis to argue his case for leniency.
Mr Saddik appeared in Parramatta District Court on Tuesday where he requested an adjournment to February, when Ms Francis would be available to appear.
Mr Saddik and Ms Francis previously worked closely together while representing alleged Alameddine crime clan boss Rafat and his cousin Hamdi, both of whom successfully beat joint robbery and aggravated assault charges following a judge-alone trial in October last year.
Meanwhile, Bayssari will also appeal the severity of multiple community-based sentences handed to him for separate charges of participating in a criminal group and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Those charges, which relate to activity that occurred around the same time as the airport brawl, involve Bayssari being recorded on surveillance devices discussing drug supplies and criminal conduct with other Alameddine associates, including high-ranking gang member Masood Zakaria, who later fled overseas when police sought to arrest him over the alleged attempted murder of Abraham Hamze.
In the recorded conversations outlined in documents tendered to the court, Bayssari can be heard telling Zakaria he is “a warrior” after Zakaria boasts of being “capable” of handling the Alameddine family’s more murky affairs.
“Alameddine done good by me, I’ll never let him down,” Zakaria is overheard saying.
On another occasion, Bayssari is heard reading out a message being circulated among criminal circles in which an unknown person offers $100,00 in exchange for taking out a rival gang member.
“There’s 100k given to whoever wants to shoot them or deliver them to our feet,” the message read. The court heard police discovered a $21,000 Rolex watch and $6060 in cash when they raided Bayssari’s Greystanes home.
