Hells Angels members free after police drop extortion and intimidation charges
THE head of the Sydney chapter of bike gang the Hells Angels and four other gang members have walked free from court after police dropped charges of extortion and intimidation.
Three of the five men have flagged that they will ask the court to force the NSW Police to pay their hefty legal bills.
The case will return to court on May 30, to hear arguments about who should foot the bills.
The case has been running since July last year with lengthy legal briefs prepared for the prosecution in preparation for hearing.
Bike boss Felix Lyle and four others were due to stand trial accused of threatening luxury car dealer Terry Mullens in July last year at his Burwood car yard.
But prosecutor Daniel McMahon today told Burwood local court that police had decided to withdraw all charges against the men.
Defence lawyer Paul Hardin, representing one of the accused, Nonda Stamatakis, said that the prosecution had failed "to properly investigate the credibility" of Terry Mullens, the critical witness in the case.
"Mr Mullens' credibility was certainly going to be the subject of vigorous attack", Mr Hardin told the court.
The other men were Mostafa Jouayd, 31, Selim Kocak, 25 from Fairfield, and Jeffrey Sahyoun.
Mr Jouayd was accused of demanding Mr Mullens hand over a silver BMW M3 sportscar worth $49,990 while accompanied by Mr Kocak, Mr Sahyoun, and two other men.
He was also accused of stalking or intimidating Mr Mullens and unlawfully taking part in a criminal group.
Mr Jouayd, who owns a tattoo parlour in Parramatta and runs an importing business, successfully applied for bail last year so he could marry his fiancé Suzie Arida.
As part of his bail conditions Mr Jouayd was banned from visiting the suburb of Potts Point in Sydney's east, where Mr Mullens lives in a $15 million home with his wife and child.
To secure his release on bail Mr Jouayd's 51-year-old pensioner mother Roukaya put up $400,000 in surety secured by her South Granville home.
Her son also put up $20,000 in cash.
Despite strict bail conditions and the seriousness of the charges he was facing, Mr Jouayd has made two overseas visits in the past three months while awaiting trial.
He flew to Phuket for seven days in March, in a business trip for his importing venture, and to Lebanon in April to visit his ailing grandmother for two weeks.
During his bail hearing Mr Jouayde said he "renounces" his involvement with the Hells Angels gang.
