Sydney teenager charged with shooting murder of 12-year-old boy
A Sydney teenager has been charged with the murder of a 12-year-old boy who was shot in the face inside an apartment in the city’s north-west.
Isaac Bechara, now 19, was 18 when he allegedly shot the boy inside the Norwest home on September 21 after accidentally firing an illegal gun. The boy died three days after he was rushed to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead suffering a gunshot wound to his face and neck.
Bechara was on Tuesday charged with murder at Silverwater Prison, where he has been in custody since shortly after the shooting when he was charged with concealing a serious indictable offence.
Police believe 10 people were in the apartment at the time of the shooting, including the boy’s mother and several 18-year-old men, some of whom fled after the boy was shot. Police are yet to recover the gun used in the shooting which they believe was removed from the Moda apartment complex before emergency services arrived.
Bechara was charged after detectives reviewed accounts from witnesses, including the boy’s mother. Two other 18-year-olds present at the apartment were arrested alongside him, but were released without charge. The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain unclear.
The boy’s father, who is a convicted cocaine dealer, paid tribute to his son on social media.
“RIP my baby,” he wrote alongside a photo of the pair. Other members of the boy’s extended family are linked to organised crime and known to police.
The boy’s family has co-operated with police. However, none of the other occupants inside the apartment have co-operated with investigators, who as a result have been unable to establish how the boy was shot.
Bechara did not apply for bail when he faced court on Wednesday. He is expected to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Thursday.
Last week, Taskforce Falcon detectives arrested 18-year-old Reece Fakr, who they allege is a key player in the Coconut Cartel, an organised crime group at the centre of a longstanding feud with Sydney’s Alameddine crime family.
Investigators identified Fakr after combing through a mobile phone he allegedly left at the Norwest apartment moments after the boy was shot.
He was arrested at Sydney International Airport as he attempted to leave the country, police said. Fakr, who is not related to the boy, has been charged with a string of offences, including conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, arson and directing a criminal group, stemming from communications detectives allegedly found on his phone. He has not been charged over the shooting.
He remains in custody and is expected to face court in December.
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