A young man who allegedly recruited teenagers to do robberies has pleaded not guilty to a separate burglary and car-jacking spree in Melbourne.
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Police allege Mahmoud Taha, 20, along with four associates stole two Mercedes Benz cars from homes and committed three burglaries at shopping plazas in Gladstone Park, Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows on June 2 last year.
The group allegedly car-jacked two innocent bystanders, one in Collins Street in the CBD and another at a petrol station on Punt Road, as they tried to thwart police.
Police allege three of the teens collided with a taxi at the corner of Spencer Street in a car they'd just stolen from a passer-by who was threatened with sledge hammers.
Mr Taha, who pleaded not guilty to the spree in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, is also set to stand trial over a separate case where he's alleged to have planned the robbery of a Coburg jeweller, committed by teenagers, in July last year.
Documents tendered to court on Friday alleged the five accused, including a 16-year-old boy, were all on bail at the time.
Two of them had been bailed the day before the alleged crimes.
