Alleged Alameddine crime boss faces trial over Uber driver assault

Alleged crime boss Rafat Alameddine and his cousin Hamdi Alameddine have faced the first day of their trial accused of attacking an Uber driver in the basement of a Merrylands unit block in 2019.

In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Louie Christoff told Parramatta District Court the Alameddine cousins stopped the alleged victim in a garage on Merrylands Road and tried to take his car keys from him before one of them got in the front seat of his car.

Christoff told the court there would be evidence the Uber driver, a father-of-two, was assaulted, leaving him with a deep cut above his eye, after he tried to take pictures of the cousins on his mobile phone.

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In his evidence yesterday, the alleged victim said he yelled out "help, help, help" in the garage before he was cornered and punched as the Alameddines tried to take his phone from him.

He said he ran out of the garage after Hamdi Alameddine and onto the street in an attempt to get his phone back.

But the man did not reach him before he got into a car and the Alameddines took off.

The Alameddines have pleaded not guilty to one count of robbery in company causing wounding and one count of aggravated assault with intent to take a motor vehicle in company.

Defence barrister April Francis said the alleged victim misunderstood why the pair had approached him and said her client had wanted to talk to him, believing he had been involved in an earlier car accident involving his work ute.

The trial continues.