Legendary detectives to testify for John Ibrahim in defamation case
Two legendary cops have agreed to testify on behalf of former Kings Cross nightclub boss John Ibrahim, who is being sued for defamation by a former boxing trainer and political hardman.
Two legendary cops have agreed to testify on behalf of former Kings Cross nightclub boss John Ibrahim, who is being sued for defamation by a former boxing trainer and political hardman.
Now retired Superintendent Brian Harding and Inspector John Davidson, both considered the toughest detectives in Sydney during the city’s bloody gangland war of the mid-’80s, will be called as witnesses in the case.
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Tom Domican is suing publishers Pan Macmillan and Mr Ibrahim for comments in his book, The Last King Of The Cross, which he claims falsely portray him as a killer and drug dealer.
During the 1980s, Domican was cleared of charges of murder and five conspiracies-to-murder charges.
His one conviction for attempted murder was quashed by the High Court after he had served six years in prison.
Domican, a fitness fanatic with strong links to the ALP, denies ever being involved in the drug trade or violence.
John Davidson and Brian Harding have been added to Pan Macmillan’s witness list for the court proceedings commenced by Mr Domican last year.
The Daily Telegraph understands neither have ever met or dealt with John Ibrahim and are being called as experts about the underworld and how it operated in the 80s by Pan Macmillan.
The publishers refused to comment on the case as did John Ibrahim.
If the pair get in the witnesses stand it should make for some riveting and amusing evidence with both men having been in the thick of some of the biggest crimes and characters during the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Mr Davidson, or “Davo’’ as he was known, was as colourful as some of the crooks he locked up.
In 1988 he famously disarmed Arthur Neddy Smith of a .357 Ruger Blackhawk revolver in an arrest during an attempted armed holdup of a payroll van.
Davidson liked the gun so much he kept it as his service revolver and eventually applied for and was granted permission by the police bosses to carry it officially.
He knew it would infuriate Smith and send a message to his cronies about who was boss on the streets.
It belittled Smith, who at the time was the king of armed hold-up merchants when banks were being held up almost daily.
Then in the early ‘90s he made headlines by wearing a red suit to an ICAC inquiry, saying “when you go to the circus you dress as a clown”.’
The other potential witness, Mr Harding, was a senior member of the armed holdup squad during another bloody era where eight “stick-up” men were shot dead from 1974 to the mid-’80s.
The squad also included the now-convicted killer Roger Rogerson.
Mr Harding killed a hijacker who had taken control of a Pan Am jet and its passengers at Sydney Airport in 1979 when he held a knife at throat of a woman and claimed to have a bomb.
As the deadline to meet the hijacker’s demands neared, Harding and another detective, Nelson Chad, stormed the plane with a fire hose, hoping to use the water pressure to knock the hijacker off balance.
He ducked the blast of water but Mr Harding rushed up and shot him in the head as he was trying to light a beer can packed with gunpowder.
Tom Domican is infuriated with lines in the book which he says hurt and defame him.
He is determined to fight for his name and reputation.
The book, The Last King of the Cross, is the best selling autobiography by John Ibrahim recounting his time as a nightclub boss in the “Golden Mile” district of Darlinghurst.
It also won the Danger prize at last year’s Sydney Crime Writer’s Festival.
The defamation case is set down for a pre-trial hearing in the Federal Court this month.
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