Botched Diamond Robbery Led To Murder, Court Told

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday November 23, 2004

Geesche Jacobsen

A man and a youth murdered a man in a bungled robbery after answering a newspaper advertisement for a diamond ring, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.

Feras Dehaybi, 22, and a man who cannot be named, because he was under 18 at the time, both pleaded not guilty yesterday to murdering Simon Taylor, 33, in Glebe on March 21, 2003.

Some time after his engagement had broken up, Mr Taylor advertised the ring in the Trading Post for $15,000.

The next day, a man who called himself John rang and said he was a wholesaler interested in buying it. The man suggested they meet at a house in Glebe.

Mr Taylor went to the address with his parents, Rosalie and Robert Taylor, later that night.

There they met the man and were told to enter through the back garden. Another man confronted them with a replica pistol, while the first man pulled a knife, the court was told. They were ordered to hand over the ring which was in Rosalie Taylor's handbag.

A struggle ensued, Robert Taylor was stabbed, and the men fled with the bag. Simon Taylor chased them and tackled the second man, but was stabbed twice in the heart, once in the thigh and once in the nose by the first man.

He died about two hours later.

The handbag, the ring and the knife were later found by police.

The Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, said yesterday the DNA on the knife and fingerprints on the handbag and a window at the Glebe address matched that of Feras Dehaybi.

The two men are on trial for murder, armed robbery and malicious wounding.

The court was told Dehaybi had gone to the police two days after the murder, allegedly to say "he was sorry for what happened" and had "acted in self defence".

The co-accused attended a jewellery course at Enmore TAFE and had allegedly asked classmates and a teacher about the value of a 1.1 carat diamond solitaire like the one described in the advertisement.

He, too, reported to police a few days later. He told them Dehaybi had wanted to buy the ring, but an argument started, they were tackled, and then ran away.

The trial continues.

© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald

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