Teens face trial for taxi murder

The Age, (Australia), by Geesche Jacobsen, October 23, 2006

Two teenage girls will stand trial for the murder of Sydney taxi driver who died of a heart attack after they allegedly assaulted him.

Youbert Hormozi, 53, was allegedly beaten and dragged from his taxi by the girls, now aged 14 and 15, at Canley Heights in Sydney's south-west on January 31.

Lidcombe Children's Court today committed the girls to trial in the NSW Supreme Court for murder, aggravated robbery and stealing a motor vehicle.

At a committal hearing today, Chris Tosevic, lawyer for one of the girls, questioned whether Mr Hormozi's heart attack had been triggered by the alleged actions of the girls or by something else.

He said Mr Hormozi had had two previous heart attacks and that his doctors had decided against surgery because of the severity of his condition.

Mr Tosevic said the heart attack might have started after Mr Hormozi lifted a bike that had belonged to one of the girls from the taxi or because he had run around the vehicle or because he had hit one of the girls, as they had alleged.

"This man, in our submission, was akin to a walking time bomb. The clock was ticking away. It could have gone off at any time," Mr Tosevic said.

"If you suffered a heart attack while waiting in a corridor - waiting for a social worker - [and] in bed ... he could have suffered a heart attack at any time without any emotional trauma," Mr Tosevic said.

A date has yet to be fixed for the trial.