Teenager charged with murder, kidnap

A teenager has been charged with kidnapping and murdering Chris Baghsarian, more than two months after the 85-year-old widower was snatched from his North Ryde home before being tortured and killed in a suspected case of mistaken identity.

Detectives from the robbery and serious crime squad under Strike Force Chabot arrested Moustafa Ohrok, 19, at Mount Druitt Police Station on Tuesday morning. He was later charged with murder, detaining a person in company with intent to ransom and occasion actual bodily harm.

Ohrok is the fourth person charged over the kidnapping and murder of Baghsarian, who was allegedly snatched from his bed just after 5am on February 13. Footage of Baghsarian’s torture at an abandoned Dural property filtered through Sydney’s underworld, leading police to issue a public plea for the grandfather’s safe return.

Baghsarian’s body was discovered on the outskirts of a Pitt Town golf club in Sydney’s north-west fringe on February 24. Detectives believe Baghsarian’s body was dumped at the golf course on February 14, one day after the kidnapping.

Ohrok was refused bail on Tuesday, and will appear at Mount Druitt Local Court on Wednesday.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said prosecutors will allege Ohrok provided a gun for Baghsarian’s kidnapping.

“We still believe there are further people involved in the kidnapping and the killing of Mr Baghsarian,” Lanyon told 2GB on Wednesday morning. “Our investigators will leave no stone unturned, they continue to investigate.”

His arrest comes one month after police charged Deklin James Donnelly, a 23-year-old they allege was the ringleader behind the botched kidnapping and murder. Detectives will allege Donnelly was contracted to kidnap the father of convicted armed robber Dimitri Stepanyan, 37, who lived three doors down from Baghsarian, but mistakenly abducted the 85-year-old.

Demands of a $50 million ransom were made to the Stepanyan family, who told kidnappers they had abducted the wrong man. Stepanyan, who is linked to the Alameddine crime family, is not accused of any involvement in Baghsarian’s death.

Donnelly allegedly recruited several people, including Daniel Stevens, 24, and Gerard Andrews, 29, to assist in the kidnapping plot.

Stevens and Andrews were charged with Baghsarian’s kidnapping and murder one day after police discovered Baghsarian’s remains, as heavily armed officers swooped on the pair at their parents’ homes in Kenthurst and Castle Hill.

Donnelly has been charged with Baghsarian’s kidnapping and murder, as well as possessing an unauthorised firearm and ammunition, and drug supply offences.

Detectives believe up to nine people were involved in Baghsarian’s kidnapping and murder, and are continuing to investigate whether the abduction plot was ordered offshore. At least one key player in the plot is believed to have left the country in the days after Baghsarian’s death.

In a statement issued in February, Baghsarian’s family described him as a deeply loved and a devoted father, brother, uncle and grandfather, the kindest person they knew, and someone who would never hurt a fly.

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