Mystery man linked to gun at Ibrahim girlfriend’s home and waxed eyebrows
DNA from the same mystery man was found on a gun at the unit of John Ibrahim’s girlfriend and on a pair of waxed eyebrows discovered at the Kings Cross identity’s Sydney mansion.
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DNA from the same unidentified man was found on a gun at the home of John Ibrahim’s girlfriend and on a pair of waxed eyebrows discovered at the Kings Cross identity’s Sydney mansion.
Model Sarah Budge has pleaded not guilty to three firearm possession charges, blaming her 51-year-old lover or one of his associates for planting a loaded Glock 26 pistol in her bedroom without her knowledge in 2017.
The 29-year-old’s Downing Centre District Court trial on Wednesday heard DNA linked to an unidentified man allegedly found on the trigger was also discovered by police on a pair of “waxed human eyebrows”.
Australian Federal Police forensic biologist Greg Robertson said Ryan Watsford can’t be excluded as the owner of the eyebrows that were found still on the wax strip that ripped them out.
Mr Ibrahim infamously ordered the waxing as a punishment for Watsford, a former eastern suburbs real estate agent who was allegedly caught skimming money from the former nightclub owner’s family.
Officers found the waxed eyebrows at Mr Ibrahim’s Dover Heights clifftop mansion on August 8, 2017, during dawn raids carried out in connection with a suspected international drug smuggling ring.
That same day police searched Budge’s Double Bay apartment, finding the gun in her bedroom wardrobe.
Mr Robertson said the DNA of the “unidentified male” didn’t match anything in the federal police’s database, which did not include a sample from John Ibrahim.
The court heard that in March 2018 police asked Mr Robertson to compare the DNA of the unidentified man with one of John Ibrahim’s brothers but on his technical advice the test was never carried out.
Mr Ibrahim’s younger brother Michael has pleaded guilty to his part in the illegal importation of MDMA and tobacco and will be sentenced later this year.
Another brother, Fadi, was charged with allegedly helping finance the importation of the illicit tobacco. He denies the charges and awaits trial next June.
Watsford, 39, has admitted his role in the plot to bring hundreds of kilograms of ecstasy into Australia, having introduced an undercover cop to Michael Ibrahim in what sparked the arrests.
No charges have been laid against John Ibrahim and the gun charges against Budge are unrelated to the alleged syndicate.
Seven of Budge’s fingerprints were found on a paper bag inside a black box containing the weapon alongside bullets, the Crown alleges.
That pharmacy bag also allegedly contained a single fingerprint belonging to Michael Frank Amante, a former Kings Cross strip club baron and childhood friend of John Ibrahim who denies ever owning the gun or visiting Budge’s unit.
Mr Amante is due to give evidence on Thursday as the trial before Judge David Arnott continues.
Originally published as Mystery man linked to gun at Ibrahim girlfriend’s home and waxed eyebrows
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