By Judd Boaz, ABC
Suleiman Abdulrahim was shot and killed while walking to his car in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Photo: supplied
"Were you concerned that this was just a matter of time?"
This was the question asked of Detective Inspector Dean Thomas on Tuesday as he informed the media of the shooting death of Suleiman "Sam" Abdulrahim.
In response, Inspector Thomas acknowledged the violent incidents that clouded the gangland figure's final years.
"I think common sense prevails here, that perhaps that's the case," he said.
Tuesday's shooting punctuated a years-long period of violence on Melbourne streets that saw homes subjected to shootings and businesses firebombed.
And it was the victim of the shooting, a professional boxer and former Mongols bikie, who served as one of its central figures.
Over a decade of controversy and criminality
A major player in Melbourne's underworld, Sam Abdulrahim had criminal convictions stemming back to 2009.
Nicknamed "the Punisher", Abdulrahim made media headlines in February 2015 as one of four men who were arrested following a wild brawl at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
A few months later, the then-23-year-old was fronting court again, this time after being arrested for his role in a deadly car crash in Reservoir.
Abdulrahim had driven his Ferrari into four other cars on High Street, killing 88-year-old Muriel Hulett.
He pleaded guilty to culpable driving charges causing death along with two charges of possession of a drug of dependence.
In 2018, a judge sentenced Abdulrahim to three years and three months behind bars for his role in the fatal crash, with a non-parole period of two years.
However, Abdulrahim had already served one year and five months behind bars and by March of 2019, he was released on parole.
Parole granted, revoked, granted again
By the time Abdulrahim was released from jail on 5 March, 2019, he had become a major target.
According to his lawyer at the time, he changed his address on five occasions for safety reasons, on the advice of Victoria Police.
Victoria Police previously advised Abdulrahim to change his address due to safety fears. Photo: 123RF
But within a week of his release, the violence began.
On 10 March, assailants conducted a drive-by shooting at a property on Barrow St in Brunswick, the same street Abdulrahim had been paroled to live on.
Two months later, on 23 May, Abdulrahim's sister was targeted as she drove a vehicle that her brother was known to use.
Court documents say two men followed Natali's vehicle before pulling alongside her and pointing a handgun at her.
Two weeks later on 7 June, a house in Campbellfield was sprayed with bullets. The victims were described by the parole board as Abdulrahim's cousins.
Abdulrahim said both shootings were completely unrelated to him and that he had no concerns for his own safety.
But the Adult Parole Board revoked Abdulrahim's parole, believing him to be the true target of the attacks and a risk to the wider community.
"The Board has concluded that there is sufficient information linking you as a likely target of recent shootings, including 10/3/2019 and 7/6/2019, to require cancellation of your parole having regard to the Board's paramount consideration of the safety and protection of the community," the board said in a statement.
Abdularahim was arrested and spent the next 72 days in detention, nearly half of which was spent in solitary confinement, due to the Department of Justice and Community Safety's suspicion that he was in danger.
During this period, Abdulrahim was assaulted in prison with a rock to the back of his head.
But despite the reasoning of the board that the "benefit to the community of the offender being on parole [was] outweighed by the risk", Abdulrahim appealed against the decision.
"It's funny that these shootings happened, but I got an ankle bracelet on my leg … I was nowhere near the shootings, so they locked me up for no reason," Abdulrahim would later say on a 2022 podcast.
He remained in detention until 23 August, when a judge found "the Parole Board had acted beyond its powers in cancelling the plaintiff's parole", and released Abdulrahim immediately back into the community.
Violence continues on the outside
The boxer would eventually launch a lawsuit against the Adult Parole board in 2023, claiming he was "wrongfully and unlawfully imprisoned, and entitled to damages … for the deprivation of his liberty and the psychiatric harm".
The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge, who recommended the attorney-general make an ex-gratia (voluntary) payment to Abdulrahim for the additional 72 days he spent behind bars.
Abdulrahim completed the rest of his parole without further incident in May 2020, but the respite from violence would not last long.
In June 2022, as Abdulrahim drove away from a funeral in Fawkner, gunmen riddled his black Mercedes SUV with bullets.
Abdulrahim was shot four times in the chest and rushed to hospital in a critical condition, but survived. He claimed a bullet remained lodged in his kidney following the shooting.
In February 2024, a Thornbury club was firebombed days before it was due to host a boxing match with Abdulrahim.
Three months later in May, another attempt was made on his life outside his Thomastown home, with gunmen firing at him 17 times.
Attackers returned weeks later, peppering his home with bullets in June before firebombing it in August.
The arson attacks continued in October last year, with a Brunswick gym linked to Abdulrahim firebombed in what authorities believed was part of Melbourne's illegal tobacco war.
Finally, those hunting Abdulrahim found him.
The final moments of Sam Abdulrahim's life
On Tuesday, the pattern of violence surrounding Abdulrahim came to a head at the Quest apartments in Preston where he was staying.
It was there that multiple attackers are believed to have found and killed him, shooting him in the head as he walked towards his car.
A woman, believed to be Abdulrahim's girlfriend, was present and attempted to save his life with CPR, but the 32-year-old died at the scene.
The assailants escaped in a white Porsche, found burnt out later in Reservoir, and remain at large.
Sources told the ABC a (AUS) $1 million bounty had been placed on Abdulrahim's head by underworld rivals, with police saying Abdulrahim was aware of the danger he was in.
But Inspector Thomas said offers of police assistance were not taken up by Abdulrahim.
"We need to be conscious that we believe he's aware that his life has been at risk and may still have been at risk," he said.
"He was provided with options."
It was an attitude that Abdulrahim appeared to carry throughout his final years.
When asked by former footballer Sam Newman on a 2022 podcast about his concerns for his own safety after being shot, Abdulrahim said he remained unfazed.
"Walking around worried? Nah, not really," he said.
"When my time's up, my time's up I guess."
- ABC
