Chaos in Supreme Court as Love Machine killers get life sentences
The pair behind the murders of two men outside the Love Machine nightclub have been handed dual life sentences for a “violent and chilling” public shooting in Melbourne’s inner south-east.
Violent scenes erupted inside the courtroom as Justice Andrew Tinney sentenced the men on Wednesday.
Aaron Khalid Osmani (left) and Richard Arow were gunned down outside the Love Machine nightclub in 2019.
Tinney said that in a matter of a mere second, the pair left a trail of devastation.
Jacob Elliott, 21, fired four shots from a semi-automatic handgun at people outside the Prahran nightclub at about 3.15pm on April 14, 2019, as he and friend Allan Fares, 25, drove slowly past in a stolen Porsche SUV.
Security guard Aaron Khalid Osmani and patron Richard Arow were both shot in the head and died later in hospital. Another security guard, Semisi Tu’itufu, and two patrons were also injured.
The shooting came hours after Elliott’s half-brother, Ali Maghnie, was thrown out of the nightclub for poor behaviour. He then called the pair’s father – crime boss Nabil Maghnie – to complain that security guards had kicked him out on the street.
Jacob Elliott was sentenced to life in prison for killing two men outside Love Machine.
During heated scenes inside the courtroom, the brother of Arow had to be dragged from the room after rushing at the killers soon after Elliot repeatedly told the judge to “shut the f–k up”.
More than a dozen security officers, many of whom had been waiting outside, filled the courtroom as the family of the killers yelled for the melee to stop.
Elliott grinned and clapped as he was sentenced to two life sentences for the deaths of Osmani and Arow, before supporters inside the courtroom had to be separated.
“All good,” Elliot muttered as he was taken away, while his mother wailed.
Allan Fares was arrested in 2019.Credit:Nine
In April, Elliott and Fares were found guilty of two charges of murder, two of attempted murder and one of intentionally causing serious injury following six days of deliberations.
On Wednesday, Tinney labelled the revenge attack an example of “serious, planned adult criminality” designed to send a violent and chilling message to Love Machine.
“In the devastating scene of carnage you left behind in Prahran, Mr Osmani and Mr Arow lay mortally wounded on the roadway,” Tinney said.
“The relative calm of the streets of Melbourne had been disrupted … by a crime with such viciousness and lawlessness to shock the community. This is a dreadful case.”
During the jury trial, Elliott gave evidence and said he felt he had no choice but to follow his father’s orders.
His lawyers argued Elliott was ordered to fire retributive warning shots outside the Love Machine by his father after Ali’s ejection for poor behaviour.
But in sentencing the pair, Tinney said he believed both men were willing participants in the attack.
Despite Fares being the driver and not firing any shots himself, Tinney found the 25-year-old was a ready participant in an attack “motivated by a desire for vengeance”.
Forensic police officers examine the scene outside Love Machine in the hours after the shooting.Credit:Chris Hopkins
He also acknowledged the ongoing anguish and sadness felt by the friends and family of those killed.
“You both knew that your intended victims would be entirely unsuspecting and defenceless,” Tinney said.
Maghnie, 44, was shot dead in a dispute in Epping less than nine months after the Love Machine shootings. No one has been charged over his death.
Elliott was sentenced to two life sentences with a non-parole period of 29 years. Fares was sentenced to two life sentences with a non-parole period of 27 years.
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