Face of Nation : Inside details of the “dirty work” of the Salim Mehajer crash scam have emerged for the first time as a court heard a woman “had the glitter of gold in her eyes” when offered $10,000 to ram her car into Mehajer’s Mercedes.
Fakaha Malinda Moufferrige wept in the dock as she and husband Elias Moufferrige were sentenced for their part in the October 2017 crash which wrote off Mehajer’s $100,000 4WD Mercedes.
Ms Moufferrige had just been told, in an ominous warning from Judge Andrew Colefax “you will need to take your bag Ma’am”, after ordering her and her husband Elias Moufferrige to enter the dock in Parramatta District Court to be sentenced.
Ms Moufferrige stood up to head to the dock without her handbag, but on the judge’s order turned back and picked it up.
In the dock, she sat tearfully by her husband who at times also wept as both faced potentially being taken downstairs to the Parramatta Court cells and off to prison.
Judge Colefax read out the facts of the crash scam which had begun on the night of October 15, 2017 when Ahmed Jaghbir had gone to the house of Elias and Fakaha Moufferrige in the western Sydney suburb of Lidcombe.
The couple was living at the house with their co-accused in the crash scam, Elias’s brother Michael Moufferrige and his de facto wife, Nora Anne Bush. All four have pleaded guilty to charges arising from the crash scam.
Neither couple knew Salim Mehajer, but Jaghbir — the Moufferrige brothers’ friend — has been described in the media as the wedding planner for Mehajer’s flamboyant 2015 nuptials.
Judge Colefax said Jaghbir “went to the house and asked (the Moufferrige brothers) if they wanted to make $10,000 be becoming involved in a car ‘accident’ for Mr Salim Mehajer”.
The judge said nothing in the agreed facts of the case suggested the brothers knew Mehajer was due to appear in court on the day of the proposed accident, or that he’d be driving the car.
“There’s no suggestion that the brothers Moufferrige or Mrs Moufferrige were aware at the time that Mr Mehajer would be himself involved in any proposed accident,” Judge Colefax said.
He said Michael Moufferrige had “considerable influence” over younger brother Elias who decided the next day he wouldn’t drive the vehicle planned to ram into Mehajer’s car.
“Rather than he himself doing what might … be called the dirty work, he put extreme pressure on his wife to do it,” the judge said.
“That being said … the $10,000 was not irrelevant in her thinking”. Judge Colefax said Fakaha Moufferrige had “the glitter of gold in her eyes”.
The next day, Fakaha Moufferrige and Nora Anne Bush got into a Mitsubishi Outlander rented from Peanuts Rent to Buy and drove it “to the appointed spot”.
En route, Bush told Fakaha the collision would “involve a motor vehicle in which Mehajer was driver or passenger” and they “came up with a false version to tell police and the insurer”.
“While travelling they were receiving directions for Jaghbir over a loudspeaker,” the judge said.
“The Mitsubishi came to an intersection and Mehajer’s vehicle drove past them. “Jaghbir said they had travelled too fast and had to go back. “Five minutes later the parties had repositioned themselves and Mrs Moufferrige continued to receive instructions from Jaghbir. “Mehajer’s vehicle approached … Jaghbir told Mrs Moufferrige to ‘step on it’.
“She accelerated and they came into collision with the driver’s door of Mehajer’s vehicle. “Each driver kept accelerating and more damage was done to each vehicle.”
When police arrived at the crash scene, Fakaha told them “a false version of events”, saying Bush had startled her and she had hit the accelerator instead of the brake.
The crash occurred on the same day Mehajer was due in court to face a charge of assaulting a taxi driver in April 2017 at Sydney’s The Star casino.
“It was a dishonest insurance claim which was in contemplation of receiving $10,000,” Judge Colefax told the court. “The source of the $10,000 was always understood to be Mr Mehajer.
“(The Moufferriges) sought payment from him repeatedly in the weeks following the accident. “On one occasion they met face-to-face (but) far from receiving the $10,000 they were promised the three Moufferriges and Ms Bush received $3600.”
Of this, Elias and Fakaha Moufferrige got $1600. A court has previously heard that an NRMA insurance policy for $156,780 on Mehajer’s Mercedes was allegedly taken out nine days before, and a claim lodged hours after the collision.
