Bikie girlfriend faces jail for luring man to shooting

Karen SweeneyAAP
Camera IconAthar Almatrah who admitted luring a Mongols bikie into a violent shooting faces jail time. (Aap/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Bikie girlfriend Athar Almatrah faces jail time after luring a rival gang member to the scene of a violent shooting as part of a revenge attack.

A dozen shots were fired into Mongols club member Rocco Curra's car in August 2019, four of which struck him in the head, neck and chest.

Almatrah had lured him there for her Finks boyfriend, as part of a revenge attack after another Fink was shot in the foot by a Mongols bikie.

She now faces up to 15 years behind bars, after admitting she recklessly caused serious injury.

But in a twist, three of the men Almatrah said recruited her for $5000 were acquitted by a jury after taking their cases to trial.

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A fourth man had charges dropped by prosecutors after the other men walked free.

Her barrister Rishi Nathwani said Almatrah was unaware of the plan for retaliation.

"She anticipated he would be bashed quite seriously, but never gave any real thought to the level of violence," he said.

She was also never paid, he said.

The court heard Almatrah, now 32, had set up a fake Instagram account to chat with Mr Curra, who had previously sent "sleazy" messages to her real account.

Suspecting it might be fake, Mr Curra contacted Almatrah to ask about the new account that had started following him.

Almatrah claimed the girl, Sarah Riccardo, was real and "a good girl".

She used the Riccardo account to plan a meeting with Mr Curra, and gave him an address provided to her by the Finks bikies.

He agreed to meet her and when he messaged to say he had arrived, Mr Curra's car was ambushed.

Finks bikie Sione Hokafonu, the gang member previously shot in the foot, was acquitted of being one of two shooters who allegedly leapt from the car and fired the dozen shots.

Charges against the second alleged shooter, Tavita Sua, were dropped.

The alleged getaway drivers were also acquitted.

Mr Nathwani said Almatrah had expressed guilt and remorse for her actions.

"Her own silly actions have got her here - those were her words," he said.

But Justice Mandy Fox said it wasn't just silly and noted in letters she had been at pains to point out that she was naive, vulnerable and was manipulated.

"She willingly went into this," she said.

"She set up an arrangement whereby she was going to get paid $5000 and even after she learned of the shooting she was still asking for her $5000," she said.

Almatrah will be sentenced at a later date.

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