Accused grandfather getaway cars organiser out on bail
A man accused of arranging getaway cars for a bungled kidnapping and murder of a grandfather has been released from custody.
Chris Baghsarian, 85, was taken from his Sydney home in the early hours of February 13, triggering large searches and police urging his kidnappers to release him.
His body was found dumped on February 24 near a golf club on Sydney's northern outskirts after allegedly being killed at a makeshift stronghold in nearby Dural.
It is not thought the elderly widower was the intended target of the kidnap-ransom plot.
The alleged mastermind of the botched abduction was among nearly a dozen people arrested in the months following.
One, aged in his 20s and arrested in an early morning raid on July 13, sought bail in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
He is charged with being an accessory to kidnapping as well as an accessory to murder and drug possession.
The man, who has not been identified publicly due to a court order, is accused of staging two getaway cars to enable the main perpetrators to flee the scene, the court heard.
He also allegedly set a shed on fire on a far-flung property, causing an estimated damage bill of $93,000.
The man's alleged actions showed he understood the criminal activities he was involved in were of "an extremely serious kind," Justice Hament Dhanji said on Friday.
"The evidence ... shows an involvement on the part of this applicant for profit," he said.
"The staging of vehicles to be used to enable perpetrators, the primary offenders, to leave the scene would indicate an awareness of involvement in criminal activity of an extremely serious kind."
But Justice Dhanji took into account he had no prior criminal history, along with his youth, as reasons to release him from custody.
His bail conditions include daily police reporting and an order that he only leave his family home in the company of his older sister.
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