<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A jewellery store employee was called into work on the day of a staged robbery because her boss "needed a real victim" to fool police and make a $2.8 million insurance claim, a jury has heard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Germani Jewellers' store at Sydney's Hilton Hotel was robbed by two men one night in January 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Its owner Michel Germani, 67, owed more than $184,000 in rent to the hotel and formed a plan to recoup funds before the store was shut down, prosecutor Cate Dodds previously told a NSW District Court jury.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/donald-trump-administration-regrets-postponing-meeting-with-anthony-albanese-penny-wong-says/7a44234c-fb9f-49a9-899c-33290c149391" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Trump administration 'expressed regret' for postponing meeting with PM</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mounir Helou, 59, and Andrea David Cusumano, 59, are jointly on trial accused of being in on the scheme.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Helou is accused of being one of the two men who robbed the store, tying up Germani and shop assistant Lana Al-Khoury.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She had not been rostered on the night of the robbery but had been called in to work by her boss.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-court-germani-jewellers-owner-michel-germani-needed-employee-to-be-victim-in-staged-robbery/96d8d77b-720c-4586-91bb-8298722bcf89" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Today, Dodds urged the jury to reject claims by lawyers for the three men on trial that Al-Khoury also knew the robbery was fake.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Germani told Helou and the second man, who cannot be legally named, to tie her up to fool police and his insurance company.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Michel Germani needed a real victim so it would look like a real and legitimate robbery," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Al-Khoury's terror and distress had been witnessed by security guards and police who attended the store after the robbery, the jury was told.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Claims the shop assistant had lied about the emotional effects of the incident to get worker's compensation should also be rejected, Dodds said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/pheobe-bishop-alleged-murder-third-person-charged/720df7e5-310b-4cd7-ba96-42bb6cc7710f" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Third person charged in Pheobe Bishop's disappearance and alleged murder</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Al-Khoury's court evidence that she feared losing her job after seeing jewellery being moved out of the Hilton store and into Germani's other shop nearby had an "absolute ring of truth" about it, the jury was told.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Someone planning to feign psychological symptoms and "pull the wool" over doctors and insurers for compensation would not have been worried about losing their job, Dodds said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The eventual insurance claim seeking to recoup $2,821,348 for 164 items of jewellery "stolen" was denied, the court was told previously.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Germani has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of detaining without consent - both of which relate to what happened to Al-Khoury on the night.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He has admitted staging the robbery to gain financially through the attempted insurance claim and to providing false statements to police.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Helou has also admitted staging the robbery but has denied a more serious charge of aggravated robbery against Al-Khoury.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Both Germani and Helou are accused of committing "corporal violence" on the shop attendant.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cusumano has pleaded not guilty to one count of committing the staged robbery to obtain a financial advantage.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The trial continues.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><strong><span>Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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