A Sydney criminal lawyer who survived a near-fatal gangland shooting earlier this year has been charged over an alleged violent kidnapping.
Sydney criminal solicitor Sylvan Singh has been charged over an alleged kidnapping that took place in western Sydney last year.
The charges come months after Singh was seriously injured in a gangland shooting in Granville, when he and Sydney gangland figure Dawood Zakaria were ambushed by a gunman in a Mercedes while stopped at a red light in a Toyota Hilux.
The 26-year-old was taken to Liverpool Police Station, where he was charged with seven serious offences.
These include one count each of taking and detaining a person for ransom, causing grievous bodily harm, supplying a commercial quantity of drugs, and knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group.
NSW Police allege the incident occurred on 23 November last year, when a 31-year-old man stopped his car in Granville to make a phone call.
Authorities allege that three men armed with baseball bats approached the man, bound him with cable ties, and forced him into a car before driving him to a property in St Mary’s, where he was allegedly assaulted and tortured.
According to police, the victim’s brother paid a ransom, yet the man was not freed, prompting the captors to demand a second ransom payment.
In the early hours of the following morning, police allege the captors met the victim’s brother in a Panania park to collect the additional ransom, which resulted in an altercation.
Detectives claimed that the man being held hostage eventually managed to escape and was treated in hospital for multiple injuries, including a black eye, cuts to his head, and hand wounds.
Following an investigation by the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, conducted jointly with officers from the state crime-focused Raptor Squad, Singh was arrested in Austral last Tuesday night (2 September) shortly after 7:00pm.
A short time later, detectives carried out a search of a residence on Ulm Street in Ermington as part of their investigation.
The NSW Police stated that three other individuals have previously been charged over the alleged kidnapping and are still before the courts, with Singh now the fourth to be charged.
When Singh appeared at Liverpool Local Court last Wednesday (3 September), his barrister requested a non-publication order to prevent media coverage, but the magistrate refused, according to ABC News.
As reported by the media outlet, the Sydney criminal lawyer was granted bail under strict conditions, including a $250,000 surety, and was ordered to remain at his residence unless attending medical appointments.
