{"id":756322,"date":"2026-04-27T09:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/756322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:37:18","slug":"murder-trial-hears-multiple-theories-surrounding-gavin-prestons-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/756322\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder trial hears multiple theories surrounding Gavin Preston’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

After underworld figure Gavin Preston was shot dead, police received numerous tip-offs about potential reasons for the hit.<\/p>\n

As Victoria’s Supreme Court heard today, theories ranged from Preston destroying a rival crime family’s gravesite, to claims he was a sexual predator, to an apparent feud with an illegal tobacco kingpin.<\/p>\n

Preston was fatally shot outside a Melbourne cafe on September 9, 2023. Two New South Wales men, Jaeden Tito and Rabii Zahabe, are on trial for murder and have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

\"Prestontrial\"<\/p>\n

Two men are facing a trial in Melbourne after pleading not guilty to Gavin Preston’s murder. (Artist: Anita Lester)<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim the men were contract killers, but have not been able to identify who ordered Preston’s death or if others were involved.<\/p>\n

Both the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victoria Police received reports that Preston broke into a mausoleum at the Preston General Cemetery and desecrated the grave of Meshilin Marrogi in July 2023, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Ms Marrogi, who died in 2021, was the sister of crime figure George Marrogi. Police received intelligence that Preston and his allies from the Maghnie family were rivals of the Marrogis.<\/p>\n

\"Meshilin<\/p>\n

Meshilin Marrogi died in 2021. (Vimeo)<\/p>\n

According to a police intelligence report with a credibility rating of “probably true”, a $5 million bounty was put on Gavin Preston’s head.<\/p>\n

Homicide detective Dale Myers told the Supreme Court police investigated the theory that Preston was involved in the grave destruction, but discounted his involvement.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Melbourne crime figure George Marrogi. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Mr Tito and Mr Zahabe questioned the detective about other information police had received.<\/p>\n

Mr Myers confirmed that, in 2024, members and associates of the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang were captured on a prison phone calls discussing Preston. In one call, Preston was alleged to have stolen three tip trucks. In another, claims were made that Preston used “sexual violence as a weapon”.<\/p>\n

Other police sources, whose credibility was deemed “mostly reliable”, claimed Preston was “going to get into the [illegal] tobacco market” and that tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad “may have ordered the hit on Preston”.<\/p>\n

Police also received tip-offs that Preston was feuding with others in the underworld, including Sam Abdulrahim and a member of the Haddara family.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors agree the two men on trial never met Mr Preston.<\/p>\n

The Crown alleges that DNA evidence ties the pair to several getaway cars and items inside, and have used other phone and internet search evidence to build a circumstantial case against them.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Police investigate the fatal shooting at Keilor Village. (AAP:\u00a0\u00a0Joel Carrett)<\/p>\n

On Monday, the prosecution case concluded and defence lawyers told the jury their clients would not be giving evidence.<\/p>\n

The trial, which is into its third week, continues before Justice Michael O’Connell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After underworld figure Gavin Preston was shot dead, police received numerous tip-offs about potential reasons for the hit.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":756323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,35375,281,356,4219,311102,311104,9620,50,311103,101,76464],"class_list":["post-756322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-cafe","tag-court","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-gavin-preston","tag-jaeden-tito","tag-murder","tag-news","tag-rahbii-zahabe","tag-shooting","tag-underworld"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116476003471524413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}