{"id":302653,"date":"2026-02-26T05:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302653\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T05:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:59:09","slug":"sydney-grandpa-kidnap-and-murder-accused-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302653\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney grandpa kidnap and murder accused in court"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seasoned criminal lawyer says he has a difficult job representing one of the men accused of mistakenly kidnapping and murdering<\/a> an elderly grandfather.<\/p>\n

The two men, Gerard Anthony Andrews, 29, and Daniel Stevens, 24, appeared via video link in a Sydney court on Thursday charged with killing 85-year-old widower Chris Baghsarian.<\/p>\n

The men were arrested<\/a> by heavily armed police after the remains of Baghsarian were found in bushland<\/a> in Sydney’s northwest fringe.<\/p>\n

Police allege the pair and a third unknown person abducted Baghsarian from his home in North Ryde in a case of mistaken identity 11 days ago.<\/p>\n

Andrews’ lawyer, former police officer Paul McGirr, said the alleged facts were disturbing but his client was not the mastermind of the incident.<\/p>\n

“It’s a horrific set of [alleged police] facts that I’ve read,” McGirr said.<\/p>\n

“I have a job to do and it’s very hard at this particular moment for me to do that job.”<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Baghsarian (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Andrews appeared on the court video link in the same white Gucci T-shirt he was seen wearing in arrest footage released by police.<\/p>\n

He responded “yes, I can”, when asked if he could see and hear the court.<\/p>\n

The lawyer for Stevens asked if his client could be sent antiviral medication for shingles while he is in custody.<\/p>\n

“The shingles is not contagious anymore, I just haven’t showered for 24 hours,” Stevens said from Amber Laurel Correctional Centre.<\/p>\n

Authorities believe Baghsarian was killed at a makeshift stronghold in the semi-rural Sydney suburb of Dural before his body was dumped hours later.<\/p>\n

“It’s somebody’s worst nightmare, right?” Detective Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“These people need to be held to account for that, and that’s why we are bringing these people before the courts.”<\/p>\n

Daniel Stevens, 24, and Gerard Andrews, 29, were charged over the alleged murder and kidnapping. (Source: Nine)<\/p>\n

Vehicles, electronics and clothing relevant to the investigation were seized during the search warrants at Kenthurst, Castle Hill and Lake Macquarie.<\/p>\n

Police are searching for the third alleged offender with the belief that more were likely involved in the incident. <\/p>\n

Authorities believe the intended target for the abduction was a relative of Sydney businessman Dimitri Stepanyan, who lived on the same street as Baghsarian.<\/p>\n

Marks suspected the intended target was to be kidnapped in hope of a ransom fee being paid and confirmed reports the figure demanded was AU$50 million (NZ$59.4 million).<\/p>\n

Baghsarian’s family, who described the harrowing ordeal of the kidnapping as a “nightmare”, expressed relief the alleged offenders had been caught.<\/p>\n

They have asked for privacy, as they come to grips with the death of their devoted father, brother, uncle and grandfather “who would never hurt a fly”.<\/p>\n

Both Andrews and Stevens were refused bail and will return to court on April 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A seasoned criminal lawyer says he has a difficult job representing one of the men accused of mistakenly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-302653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-crime-and-justice","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}