Glamorous traffic controller, 30, is accused of setting up a fake Instagram to seduce and then lure a Mongols bikie into an ambush where he was shot four times in the head
- Athar Almatrah allegedly made a fake Instagram under the name Sarah Riccardo
- Rocco Curra believed he had started a relationship with the fictitious ‘Sarah’
- In August 2019 Mr Curra was allegedly lured to a home and shot four times
- Ms Almatrah is accused of setting up the fake Instagram account for $5000
A traffic controller allegedly created a fake Instagram account to seduce a Mongols bikie, before luring him to a home where he was ambushed and shot.
Athar Almatrah, 30, was charged with attempted murder after Rocco Curra was shot in the head and torso four times at Bulleen, in Melbourne, in August 2019.
Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard Ms Almatrah allegedly set up an Instagram account under the name ‘Sarah Riccardo’ and befriended Mr Curra.
Athar Almatrah, 30, allegedly set up an Instagram account under the name ‘Sarah Riccardo’ and befriended Mr Curra
Rocco Curra was allegedly lured to a home in Melbourne and shot in the head and torso four times in August 2019
Detective Senior Constable Scott Harris told the court the Mongol believed he had started a relationship with the fake ‘Sarah’, news.com.au reported.
‘They spoke regularly, all the way up until the point in time he was shot,’ Constable Harris said.
‘By the end of that conversation … the victim agreed to come and meet the fake Instagram person at Bulleen specifically at an address.’
He told the court the pair had a ‘flirty relationship’, and police allegedly tracked the Instagram’s IP address to a house where Ms Almatrah was living at the time.
Ms Almatrah is accused of setting up the Instagram account for $5000.
She allegedly discussed the fake account in tapped phone calls with her sister and her then-boyfriend Ali Hussein – one of the alleged shooters.
Constable Harris told the court Ms Almatrah was never paid the money, and furiously demanded Mr Hussein give her the cash.
‘I still want my $5k, whatever happens … what’s $5k to these c***s,’ she said in a recorded call.
Police have charged 16 people in relation to the 2019 shooting of Mr Curra (pictured)
Her lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson claimed the $5000 was loaned to Mr Hussein for an unrelated matter and she wanted to be repaid.
Ms Garde-Wilson said her client would fight all the charges and said the prosecution case was ‘extremely weak’.
Police have charged 16 people in relation to the shooting of Mr Curra.
Sione Hokafonu and Hussein have been charged with the attempted murder.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh granted Ms Almatrah $100,000 bail. She will return to court in February.
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