Bikie girlfriend is jailed after luring rival gang member into a violent ambush
- Athar Almatrah learns her fate
- Set up ambush shooting of rival bikie
- Must serve 10 months before eligible for parole
The bikie girlfriend who lured a rival gang member into an ambush where he was shot in the head has been jailed.
In exchange for a promised $5000 payment, Athar Almatrah created a fake Instagram account and set up a date with Mongols bikie Rocco Curra in Melbourne in 2019.
But it was all a front and part of a plan by Finks gang members associated with her then-lover to exact revenge over the shooting of one of their own members.
Athar Almatrah (pictured last week) was sentenced to 20 months behind bars on Wednesday. She must serve 10 months before she’s eligible for parole
Mongols bikie Rocco Curra (pictured) was shot four times in 2019
Almatrah was jailed on Wednesday for 20 months by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Mandy Fox, who ordered she serve at least half before she’s eligible for parole.
While prosecutors conceded Almatrah didn’t know there would be a gun involved, or that Curra would be shot four times in the head, chest and neck, she did know that he was likely to be seriously injured.
‘She anticipated he would be bashed quite seriously, but never gave any real thought to the level of violence,’ her barrister Rishi Nathwani said in her defence.
CCTV footage of the incident that followed Almatrah’s Instagram exchange with the victim shows him arrive at the random location she gave him as her address.
When he texted her to say he had arrived, a car zoomed up and blocked him in.
Two shooters jump out and fire a dozen shots into Curra’s car before speeding away.
He survived but required multiple surgeries and spent nearly a month in hospital.
One of the accused shooters, Sione Hokafonu, was acquitted by a jury of the attempted murder of Curra.
It’s the shooting of Hokafonu in the foot by another Mongols member that prosecutors argued was the motivation for targeting Curra.
Two getaway drivers were also acquitted by the same jury.
The second alleged shooter, Tavita Sua, had his charges dropped after the acquittal of his co-accused.
Bikie girlfriend Athar Almatrah was accused of setting up shooting which injured a rival bikie
One of the accused shooters, Sione Hokafonu (pictured) was acquitted by a jury of the attempted murder of Rocco Curra
Almatrah, who is now 32, never received the money she was promised for her part in luring Curra to the incident.
That’s despite continuing to push her then-boyfriend for payment.
He told her it was the Finks club that had promised to pay her and she should take it up with them.
She continued to press for the cash even after police came to her house to question her about the incident.
When she was later arrested, Almatrah told police she had neither asked for, nor been promised, payment by the Finks for her role.
In a letter to the court Almatrah wrote that she wished she hadn’t been so naive and that she reflected daily on her poor behaviour and choices.
She understood her actions had serious consequences and caused great harm, she said.
Almatrah has already served 43 days behind bars.
Athar Almatrah’s lawyer Rishi Nathwani (pictured) told the court his client anticipated Rocca Curra would be bashed but never gave real thought to the level of violence
