Dance floor murder trial to go-ahead

July 27, 2010

A MAN who stabbed another night club patron to death on the dance floor of a Sydney club was today ordered to stand trial for murder.

Mohammad Omar, 24, died from a stab wound to the chest during a scuffle on the dance floor of the Beirut By Night resturant on Parramatta Road, Homebush, in December 2008.

Rami El Masri, 30, was charged with his murder.

Yesterday, after a three day committal hearing to assess the strength of the case, magistrate keady found that there was a reasonable chance that a jury would convict El Masri of murder.

Mr Keady took more than an hour to detail the often conflicting evidence given by witnesses during the three day committal.

He also spoke of the genuine fear for their safety  of some witnesses in giving evidence.

Mr Keady said there was a "degree of variance and confusion" in the evidence given.

He said the packed dance floor, intoxication of many witnesses, dim lighting added to the lack of clarity in the evidence.

While a number of witnesses said there had been a physical fight between El Masri and Omar - he said no one had actually seen a knife or seen the stabbing.

The murder weapon has never been found despite a number of knives been seized from El Masri's home.

Mr Keady said on its own the prosecution case of what took place in the nightclub was "circumstantial".

But he said it became much stronger when coupled with the events that took place in the hours and days after the stabbing.

The court heard a bloody El Masri had stopped off at another nightclub on way home and had washed the blood off him in a backroom.

His Lexus went missing until it could be cleaned an detailed - thwarting police attempts to foreniscally examine it.

El Masri also went missing until eight days after the killing.

He will be held in remand until he goes before the Supreme Court on September 3.

Telegraph