A 19-year-old man accused of orchestrating the attempted murder of a Sydney father and his teenage daughter allegedly planted a tracking device on their ute a week before the botched shooting.
David Kulitapa has been charged with a string of offences after a gunman allegedly attempted to shoot a 44-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter during school pick-up in Fairfield, in Sydney’s west, on June 9.
Police allege Mr Kulitapa co-ordinated the attack but was not the masked gunman who confronted the pair.
Taskforce Falcon commander Detective Acting Superintendent Jason Smith said the alleged gunman chased the teenage girl after she and her father fled their vehicle.
“He chased her, attempted to fire the pistol, and again, that pistol failed to fire,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Superintendent Smith described the pursuit of the girl as “absolutely abhorrent”.
“I can’t think of anything worse in terms of depravity of a criminal to do that to a young woman and to put her through that,” he said.
Police allege the father was being tracked for several days before the attempted shooting because of his links to Sydney’s Alameddine crime family.
Court documents allege Mr Kulitapa installed a tracking device on the man’s ute in the early hours of June 2, a week before the attack.
“Importantly, we are not alleging that he was the gunman, we are alleging that he was involved in facilitating the crime,” Acting Superintendent Smith said.
“We are alleging that he played an overall co-ordination role for this shooting.”
The gunman, dressed in black and wearing a balaclava, allegedly approached the driver’s side window of the ute and attempted to fire a handgun about 3pm on June 9.
The father and daughter escaped from the vehicle and ran down the street, with the gunman allegedly pursuing the girl and again attempting to fire the weapon.
Police have previously said they could not confirm whether the firearm had jammed, preventing shots from being fired.
The incident was captured on CCTV footage, which was distributed to 7News shortly after the attack.
Previous reporting from The Daily Telegraph described the father as an “innocent relative” of senior members of the Alameddine crime family.
Acting Superintendent Smith said the victims remained affected by the incident, particularly the teenage girl.
“I don’t believe (the man) thought his life was in danger to this extent,” he said.
The attempted shooting prompted the NSW Department of Education to increase security at the nearby school.
On Wednesday afternoon, Taskforce Falcon detectives and Raptor Squad officers arrested Mr Kulitapa during a vehicle stop in Sans Souci, in Sydney’s south.
Officers also executed a search warrant at a property in Cronulla, where they allegedly seized a knife, illicit drugs and electronic devices.
Mr Kulitapa was charged with two counts of attempting to discharge a loaded firearm at a person with intent to murder, installing a tracking device to find an object without consent, knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group and several drug and weapon offences.
His matter was heard in Sutherland Local Court on Thursday, where he did not apply for bail and bail was formally refused.
Superintendent Smith said detectives would investigate whether Mr Kulitapa had been hired by someone overseas.
He said police had observed an increasing trend of young people being recruited to carry out organised crime offences, including shootings and preparations for attacks.
“I think the reason for that is that they’re cheap and they’re expendable,” he said.
“This was an extremely targeted and calculated attack that occurred in a busy street, minutes before school pick-up,” Superintendent Smith said.
Police are continuing to search for the alleged gunman.
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