WHO shot Omega Ruston? Almost 10 years after the young dad was gunned down next to a bus stop in a road rage attack suspected of having links to notorious Sydney bikies, it remains one of the Gold Coast’s few unsolved murder mysteries.
The 32-year-old father of two and tradie, was leaving Australia Day celebrations at North Burleigh on January 26, 2009, when an apparently minor traffic incident escalated into a lethal confrontation.
His ute, patriotically flying Aussie flags, was apparently cut off by a small red sedan with three men – described by police as being of Middle Eastern appearance – inside.
Tempers flared and when the two vehicles pulled up outside a Gold Coast Highway bus stop just south of the Burleigh Heads McDonald’s restaurant, a gun was produced and Mr Ruston was shot in the stomach.
He died at the scene, despite attempts by two friends with him to save him.
Two Sydney men, former Nomads bikie Paul Younan and Haysam Hamdan, were later named by police in court documents as persons of interest in the killing.
“Paulie” Younan was an associate of underworld figure Sam Ibrahim, brother of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim.
A former Nomads gang president, Sam reportedly gave Younan his bikie colours.
Queensland Court of Appeal documents name both Younan and Hamdan as a suspect in the murder of Omega Ruston and state that in November 2011, they were issued with notices to attend a CCC hearing.
They were required to give evidence about their knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the murder.
Younan and Hamdan were summonsed to appear at the Crime and Corruption Commission “star chamber” – secret hearings where witnesses are forced to testify about their knowledge of certain crimes or risk jail for contempt.
The two men launched legal challenges against the summonses but lost in appeals to both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
In 2015, they tried to take their fight to the High Court but were refused leave to appeal.
Their barrister, Bret Walker SC, told the High Court that “there may never be enough information to justify a prosecution”.
Gold Coast detectives now say they are planning to re-examine the file in a bid to bring Mr Ruston’s killer or killers to justice.
Mr Ruston’s parents, Wendy and Phil, said that while they wanted an arrest, they believed the police were doing their best to crack a difficult case.
“We just want to let the police do their job and not hassle them,” Mrs Ruston said.
“We have faith that the police will make an arrest one day. They never give up. You see quite often where they solve a murder even 20 years down the track.
“As a family, we just try to stay strong and positive for the sake of Omega’s children, and keep his memory alive.”
Mrs Ruston described the fatal shooting as random, but said if people were driving around with a loaded gun in their car, there was something going on.
“They’re not walking a good path,” she said.
The family still stay in close touch with their son’s former partner, Courtney Kete, who now lives in New Zealand.
“We think of Omega every single day,” Mrs Ruston said.
“I feel that he walks beside us.”
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