Former bikie boss Sam Ibrahim granted parole
Former bikie Sam Ibrahim – the brother of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim - has been granted parole after spending more than five years behind bars for conspiring to supply guns.
Police & Courts
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Former bikie Sam Ibrahim – the brother of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim - has been granted parole after spending more than five years behind bars for conspiring to supply guns.
Sam Ibrahim will walk free some time before October 6 but go straight into immigration detention because the Lebanon-born criminal lost his visa while in custody.
“His visa has been revoked and it will be the case that he goes ... into immigration detention,” Judge David Freeman said.
A hearing earlier this year knocked back Ibrahim’s parole bid on the basis he had not attended meetings in jail with community corrections.
However Ibrahim claimed he did not know he was supposed to be at the meetings and subsequent reports on him, written for today’s hearing by community corrections staff, recommended parole be granted.
Judge Freeman said there was “a plan by which his presence in the community can be managed”.
“Should you be released from immigration detention you will immediately become subject to the community corrections,” he said.
The hearing heard “his behaviour has improved notably” and should he be released by immigration officials, he has access to “suitable accommodation”.
Ibrahim has chosen to go into immigration rather than spend more of his parole period in jail.
It is understood his legal team will now fight any move to send him back to Lebanon.
Ibrahim was arrested in April 2014 along with his sister, Jazz Dior, her partner Elvis Mileski and former Rose Tattoo drummer Paul DeMarco, following raids across Sydney and Illawarra which yielded more than a dozen firearms.
His nine year jail term was reduced on appeal to eight-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of five years and nine months.
Ibrahim’s lawyer Abbas Souki said “Despite refusing parole in July 2020, following a review of that decision by this office, the State Parole Authority saw fit to release Mr Ibrahim to parole, finding that Mr Ibrahim’s conduct in prison had markedly improved, he had suitable post-release plans, and did not pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the community”. “Mr Ibrahim is extremely pleased with this result. He will now be released from custody, and will commence the process of review into the cancellation of his permanent residency visa, which was cancelled on character grounds”.