A jewellery store employee seen "distressed" after a staged robbery was there because her boss needed a real victim for his $2.8 million insurance fraud, a jury has heard.
Germani Jewellers' store at Sydney's Hilton Hotel was robbed by two men one night in January 2023.
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.
Mounir Helou, 59, and Andrea David Cusumano, 59, are jointly on trial accused of being in on the scheme
Helou is accused of being one of the two men who robbed the store, tying up Germani and shop assistant Lana Al-Khoury.
She had not been rostered on the night of the robbery but had been called in to work by her boss.
Police bodyworn footage played to jurors on Wednesday showed Ms Al-Khoury breathless and disorientated as she talked to officers attending the scene.
She had acted swiftly after the two "robbers" had left, hopping to the store's front door while cable tied to a chair and calling out for help from those outside, Ms Dodds said.
The prosecutor said these actions, and the fact she did not wait calmly inside the store, disproved claims by lawyers for the three men on trial that the shop assistant also knew the robbery was fake.
Germani told Helou and the second man, who cannot be legally named, to tie her up to fool police and his insurance company.
"Michel Germani needed a real victim so it would look like a real and legitimate robbery," she said.
Ms Al-Khoury's terror and distress had been witnessed by security guards and police after the robbery, the jury was told.
Claims she had lied about the emotional effects of the incident to get worker's compensation should also be rejected, Ms Dodds said.
Ms Al-Khoury's 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", the jury was told.
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, Ms Dodds said.
The insurance claim seeking to recoup $2,821,348 for 164 items of jewellery "stolen" was denied, the court was told previously.
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 Ms Al-Khoury on the night.
He has admitted staging the robbery to gain financially through the attempted insurance claim and to providing false statements to police.
Helou has also admitted staging the robbery but has denied a more serious charge of aggravated robbery against Ms Al-Khoury.
Both Germani and Helou are accused of committing "corporal violence" on the shop attendant.
Cusumano has pleaded not guilty to one count of committing the staged robbery to obtain a financial advantage.
The trial continues on Thursday.
