'He started shooting': child recounts gym murder

Hours after a young child witnessed a masked shooter in a hoodie fatally gun down a man in front of him, he spoke to police about the horrifying incident. Taha Sabbagh, 40, was shot four times through the windshield and six times through the drivers-side door of his black Mercedes Benz at 6.30am on March 2, 2023 outside the Elite Fight Force Gym in Sefton in Sydney's west. The child was heard screaming for help, prompting Steven Pace, the owner of a nearby business, to call triple zero. Hours later, the youngster told two female police officers what happened when the man in a black ski mask, black hoodie, blue T-shirt and ASICS shoes jumped out of a nearby car. "He started shooting," said the child clutching a plastic water bottle in his lap. Footage of the interview was played on Friday at the NSW Supreme Court where Le Nghia Andy Pham, 27, is on trial for murder. Mr Sabbagh had driven to the gym and was waiting in the car park for the doors to open when the incident occurred. "I looked to my right, I saw someone with a gun shooting," the child told police at a later interview in October 2023. "Then I looked to my left, and I saw (Mr Sabbagh) holding his chest." The shooter had black or brown eyes and pale skin, the child told police. Mr Pace was across the road at Caprice Engineering that morning when he heard "approximately six popping shots" and a car taking off at high speed, he told the jury. He appeared shaken in the witness box after hearing the triple-zero call he made in the aftermath of the shooting. "I believe the man has passed away. We need ambulance and police," he told the operator. "He's not moving at all, he's got blood pouring out everywhere." One of Mr Sabbagh's family members, who cannot be legally identified, gave evidence saying the 40-year-old was an amazing person. "Was he involved in any criminal activity?" asked crown prosecutor Christopher Taylor. "Never," the man replied. The jury heard on Monday that the murder could have been a case of mistaken identity as the 40-year-old electrician's black Mercedes was the same as one of the gym's owners. Prosecutors do not allege that Pham was the shooter or the driver of a stolen Mazda CX-3 seen fleeing the scene. However, he is alleged to have been part of a joint criminal enterprise as part of the murder plot. He has admitted helping to transport the other two unidentified people to where the Mazda was parked before the shooting. He has also admitted parking a stolen VW Golf in Birrong which was used as a second getaway vehicle after the shooter and other individual switched cars. They then drove to an underground car park in Bankstown where Pham was waiting to pick them up in his sister's silver BMW. Both the Mazda and VW Golf were found burnt out by police. On Monday, defence barrister Madeleine Avenell SC said Pham assisted but did not know that he was involved in a murder plot. The jury heard the 27-year-old had received $20,000 for his assistance and that the two other individuals had fled Australia for Vietnam. Pham himself was arrested at Sydney International Airport on April 23, 2023 trying to fly to Vietnam after he had made an emergency application for a passport and destroyed his phone, the jury heard. The trial continues.