When NSW police tapped Sayed Mohammed Ali Moosawi's phone, they thought they had solved a curious western Sydney bikie shootout.
"Cuz, let me tell you something, did you hear me go bang, bang, bang?" Moosawi asked fellow Nomads bikie member Karrah Abdul Karim.
"My f***ing brother's car has 15 bullets in it, trust me, I seen it," Karim replied.
Moosawi soon became one of eight men arrested and charged over the shooting after police alleged he fired at Karim and his brother during an argument in a Merrylands driveway on September 27, 2021.
However, a judge has thrown out the case, finding Moosawi not guilty of the shooting charge on Wednesday after a judge-only trial in a Sydney District Court.
"I have reasonable doubt (the telephone calls) are admissions," Judge Andrew Coleman said delivering his judgment on Wednesday.
"Prior to the final call, the accused never referred to himself as being the person firing the weapon."
Judge Coleman said it was possible Moosawi was simply engaging in "bravado" in his admissions, and it was more likely the other occupant of the Merrylands house, a man named Jabour, shot at Karim.
Karim and his brother, Gerard Arthur Joseph, 28, had spent the day of September 27, 2021, looking for Jabour after receiving a tip-off he wanted to kill Joseph, the court was told during the trial.
Moosawi was collecting money Jabour owed him when the brothers showed up at the Merrylands address in a white Mazda.
Phone intercepts later revealed he greeted the car in the driveway, while Jabour allegedly emerged on the balcony armed and wearing a balaclava.
Karim then began shooting at the house, the court was told.
"I don't know what the f*** happened, I seen the bloke ballied, I just started blasting," Karim told Moosawi in a tapped phone call the next day and referring to the man wearing a balaclava.
None of those involved in the shooting, or any neighbours reported the incident to police, which the judge noted as "peculiar".
When police showed up the next day to check on unrelated matters, they noticed bullet marks in the property fence.
Jabour then allegedly took off from the property, digging up something in the backyard and returning in just under two hours.
"He dug something up and left the scene to dispose of it or hide it, consistent with when Moosawi (was heard saying) 'Tell Jabour to hide it'," Judge Coleman said.
Two firearm charges Moosawi faced were also dropped and he walked free from court on Wednesday afternoon.
