A man allegedly kidnapped and bashed by pro-Palestinian activists, later claimed he was offered $10,000 to drop the case, a court has been told.
The claim was aired as Laura Allam, 28, Mohammad Sharab, 37, and Ibrahim Al Azhari appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday for a key court hearing where Magistrate Brett Sonnet decided the case should be committed to trial.
Ms Allam is the founder of humanitarian organisation the Al Jannah Foundation, Mr Sharab is a prominent Palestinian activist and Mr Al Azhari is the son of businessman and pro-Palestine organiser Ihab Al Azhari.
The trio have pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged kidnapping and hammer attack on Nemer Abusamha, 31, on February 16 last year.
Nemer Abusamha was allegedly kidnapped at assaulted. Picture: Supplied.
Prosecutors allege Ms Allam orchestrated the alleged plot, arranging to pick up Mr Abusamha from his home address about 9.30pm before he was bundled into a vehicle and bound with tape.
Mr Abusamha, who gave evidence in court last year, claimed he was struck to the head 10 times with a hammer, strangled and avoided an attempted eye gouging.
According to police, he was allegedly dumped at a park before he was found staggering the streets of Sunshine North by a passer-by and taken to hospital.
He allegedly suffered injuries including fractures to his spine and left hand, a 1cm laceration to his head and bruising.
The court was told all parties involved were known to each other, with Mr Abusamha and Mr Sharab previously housemates.
Mohammad Sharab, the court was told, was briefly housemates with Mr Abusama. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw
Giving evidence, Senior Constable Daniel Rees said police were previously called to the two men’s home in December 2023 following reports of an “altercation”.
He said Mr Abusamha claimed to have been slashed at with a knife while Mr Sharab said he’d been headbutted and had a wound to his head.
Constable Rees said no charges were laid and a woman, who was at the home with Mr Abusamha, gave an account similar to Mr Sharab.
The court was told a possible motive for the alleged kidnapping plot was Mr Abusmha’s sexual activity with multiple women from Melbourne’s Palestinian community with allegations of sexual assault being levied. No charges have been laid against Mr Abusamha.
Mr Sharab is a prominent activist. Picture: Instagram.
Constable Rees said he was made aware by Melbourne’s Burgatory restaurant chain owner Hash Tayeh, a prominent Palestinian-Australian community member, that there was an allegation of sexual assault.
He told the court Mr Abusamha claimed last year he’d allegedly been approached about a $10,000 payment to resolve the kidnapping allegations without police involvement.
He said he initially understood the alleged offer to have come from Mr Tayeh and a friend, asking him to go to a police station to provide a statement.
Laura Allam has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping. Picture: Supplied.
But Constable Rees said Mr Abushama told a court last year Mr Tayeh “did not have anything to do with it” with the alleged offer now said to have come from the friend.
He accepted under cross-examination that there was no evidence there was ever an offer made. Mr Tayeh has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Also giving evidence, clinical forensic physician Dr Jo Ann Parkin said she was asked to examine the medical notes from Mr Abusamha’s hospital appearance.
Ibrahim Al Azhari (picture) was supported in court by his father who complained the “media” was targeting him. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw
The court was told Mr Abusamha alleged he was hit in the head about 10 times, with Dr Parkin suggesting a 1cm laceration on his head was consistent with blunt force from “any range of instruments”.
She was probed on this by Mr Al Azhari’s lawyer Harry Lewis, who questioned: “wouldn’t his head have cracked open?”
Dr Parkin said she can’t exclude that it was caused by a hammer, telling the court she’d seen a wide variety of injuries in her career and it was heavily dependent on the circumstance.
She told the court there was no medical evidence of strangulation, but that about half of all compression cases have no visible signs.
Dr Parkin agreed there was no evidence of scratching around Mr Abusamha’s eyes as you might expect from a gouging.
All three were committed to stand trial on charges including kidnapping, false imprisonment, robbery, assault and intentionally causing injury.
Ms Allam had one charge of assault by kicking thrown out after Mr Abusamha’s evidence on the stand included that he now did not believe she stomped on him.
Her lawyer Ms Zaydan unsuccessfully sought to have all but the kidnapping and false imprisonment charges thrown out, arguing Mr Abusamha’s evidence had changed from his statements and he was not even sure she was present for the alleged attack.
But Magistrate Sonnet noted the evidence appeared to be “weak” and suggested she take it up with the prosecution.
The trio will next appear in the County Court on February 11.