A drug dealer has been found guilty of murder after breaking into a house in Sydney’s west and shooting dead one of his buyers over a $1,500 debt.
The decision to buy $1,500 worth of cocaine on credit led to a man being murdered weeks later by a drug dealer armed with a shotgun during a home invasion.
Bahra Youseff killed Adnan Salameh, 30, in front of his partner at his grandmother’s apartment in the western Sydney suburb of Tregear on November 30, 2020.
A New South Wales Supreme Court jury on Tuesday found the 23-year-old guilty of a single count of murder after a lengthy trial that began in August.
During the trial, Crown prosecutor Sylvie Sloane told jurors that Salameh’s partner purchased $1,500 worth of cocaine on credit from Youseff about six weeks before the shooting.
The trafficker broke into the couple’s home with another man, armed with a shotgun and wearing a balaclava, and shot Salameh after he lunged at them.
The debt was never settled and blood was shed.
Sloane told the jury the couple sold drugs to fund their addictions and had taken the drug “ice” shortly before the murder.
A drug dealer has been found guilty of murder after breaking into a house in Sydney’s west (pictured) and shooting dead one of his buyers over a $1,500 debt.
Youseff planned the home invasion after learning that Salameh and his partner had broken into two friends’ home on Nov. 8, 2020, and stole some money.
His lawyer John Stratton SC denied there was sufficient evidence to link his client to the murder, a claim rejected by the jury.
Stratton argued that Salameh had increased his drug use before he was murdered, alleging that he refused to pay his debts to others and had also defrauded those who purchased his product.
Youseff will face a sentencing hearing on November 12.