The staged heist of $2.8 million in jewellery taken from a high-end city store was planned ahead of an attempted insurance fraud by an owner weighed down with debt.
A jury today was told Michel Germani staged the robbery of his store in January 2023, having owed more than $184,000 in unpaid rent to Sydney’s Hilton Hotel.
The now 67-year-old formed a plan with an associate to regain some funds before the store was shuttered.
A meet-up was arranged after hours with two robbers posing as customers who would then empty two safes of their valuables and remove all CCTV evidence from inside the store.
A later insurance claim seeking to recoup $2,821,348 for 164 items of jewellery “stolen” was denied.
The details emerged as Germani and two co-accused in the scheme Mounir Helou, 59, and Andrea David Cusumano, 59, face trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.
“All was not as it seemed – the robbery was in fact a sham,” crown prosecutor Cate Dobbs told the jury today.
“It was a staged robbery, it was an inside job.”
Helou and another man Shanel Tofaeono attended the store about 6.30pm claiming they wanted to examine a $150,000 tennis necklace, the jurors heard.
During the 11-minute robbery, Germani and his shop attendant Lana Al-Khoury were “manhandled”, and had their hands and legs bound with cable ties.
Al-Khoury was also tied to a chair.
A security guard who later freed her noticed the shop assistant was “very distressed and panicking,” Dodd said.
A key issue in the trial will be whether Al-Khoury knew the robbery was staged or if prosecutors can prove beyond reasonable doubt she was an unwilling participant.
“The defence will ultimately be that the Crown cannot prove that case,” Germani’s barrister Matthew Kalyk told the jury.
Helou’s barrister Luke Brasch said even if the shop assistant was not involved in the scheme, his client believed at the time she was.
Germani has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of detaining without consent – both of which relate to what happened to Al-Khoury on the night.
He has admitted staging the robbery to gain financially through the attempted insurance claim and to providing false statements to police.
Helou has also admitted staging the robbery but has denied a more serious charge of aggravated robbery against Al-Khoury.
Both Germani and Helou are accused of committing “corporal violence” on the shop attendant.
Cusumano is accused of playing a lesser role in the scheme – registering a new mobile phone bought for the sham robbery and making a call to Germani to arrange the after-hours appointment.
He has pleaded not guilty to one count of committing the staged robbery to obtain a financial advantage.
Dodd told the jury Cusumano was also with Helou and Tofaeono when cable ties and two pairs of gloves used in the sham robbery were purchased from Bunnings.
She said the evidence would show Germani had made two previous attempts to plan the robbery.
When the first fell through, he contacted a friend on January 10, 2023 saying he needed two men to rob his store and he would leave $20,000 to $25,000 in the safe for them as payment.
That friend agreed but called police instead.
When officers attended the Hilton store on January 13, they informed Germani someone was planning an “insurance job” at his premises but did not disclose who.
Despite this, he continued with his failed plan.
