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Guard asked for smoke after shooting robber
WHEN Karen Brown shot William Aquilina in the carpark of the
Moorebank Hotel he had just robbed, shocked witnesses had no idea
she was a security guard.
Dressed in tight black jeans and a leather jacket, the blonde
looked like a patron of the sprawling, modern hotel in Sydney's
southwest.
Witnesses said Ms Brown, who is the de facto wife of a member of the Lone Wolf bikie club, followed Aquilina to his car, shot him through the closed window of his vehicle and then "wandered around" the parking lot, bleeding from a scalp wound on the back of her head.
For some minutes after the shooting, Aquilina lay slumped in the driver's seat of the stolen getaway car coughing up blood.
As the robber lay dying, Ms Brown asked a bystander for a cigarette, but he declined, saying he had only one left.
It was only later, as Ms Brown was being treated by a paramedic that police realised she might still have a gun, said witness Sam Capar.
"One cop suddenly yelled out to check if she had a gun, but she didn't. So they just took her away in an ambulance," he said.
The fatal shooting last Monday has prompted security industry insiders to question the circumstances surrounding the robbery, in which Ms Brown, dressed in plain clothes, was alone and picking up about $55,000 in cash.
Aquilina bashed Ms Brown with brass knuckles in the robbery, and it is feared she may lose the sight of one eye.
Scans have revealed Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull and a broken nose in the attack during the robbery. She is still being treated in hospital and is yet to be interviewed by police.
Ms Brown worked for Elite Guard Forces, a company run by her de facto husband, George Muratore, which was believed to be subcontracting the job from a company called Divisional Security Group.
Through barrister Joseph Busuttil, Mr Muratore refused to answer questions on whether his company carried out the necessary security-risk assessments for its role in collecting cash from the hotel, or whether Ms Brown as a plainclothes "soft skin" guard had breached regulations in taking delivery of such a large sum.
Police sources have told The Weekend Australian the Lone Wolf Motorcycle club, which has its headquarters in Lismore, northeast NSW, is a low-profile club that has not attracted police attention.
George Muratore's father, Vic Muratore, defended the couple over their membership of the Lone Wolf club. "Just because they ride the bikes doesn't mean they've done anything wrong," he said. "It has nothing to do with this."
He considered Ms Brown as a daughter. She was a "kind person" who was always helping friends. "All the time you see her, she is doing things for others," he said. "Helping with the shopping, whatever."
Neighbours of the pair in Rooty Hill, western Sydney, who
asked not to be named, said Ms Brown and George Muratore led a
"quiet life" and had never caused any trouble.
