Man charged over attempted murder of Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim denied bail
The details of how wannabe assassins allegedly hunted down a former bikie in a daylight ambush have been revealed, as one of the accused was refused bail.
Police & Courts
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A baby-faced teen accused of an assassination plot on kickboxer Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim has been refused bail with concerns his family helped him to destroy evidence.
Yasir Al Qassim, 18, fronted Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, hoping to be released from custody and into the supervision of his parents and older brothers, who offered up a $100,000 surety and promised to tell police if he misbehaved.
But Magistrate Donna Bakos refused him freedom, saying she was not persuaded the surety or the family supports outweighed the “real and unacceptable” risk of Mr Al Qassim reoffending or putting the safety or welfare of the public in danger.
Ms Bakos said evidence before the court that Mr Al Qassim had accessed a firearm stored in a subfloor at a disused demolition site in Epping a month after the June 25 shooting ambush on Mr Abdulrahim “was concerning”.
As was his ties to a Middle Eastern youth crime gang linked to recent gun violence in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, she said.
“The existence, possession and use of illegal firearms in the community places the safety of all persons at risk,” Ms Bakos said.
The experienced magistrate also highlighted evidence of family collusion, particularly a three-way intercepted phone conversation between Mr Al Qassim, his mother and his brother, who is in prison, on August 3.
She said that call — involving his jailed brother advising him to destroy clothing and wipe his phone, with his mother heard reiterating that advice — came “significantly” a day after police, via the media, released footage from Bunnings allegedly depicting Mr Al Qassim purchasing a jerry can, while hiding his face, in the lead up to the shooting.
Ms Bakos said Mr Al Qassim’s mother also tried to conceal a phone to obstruct the course of justice when police raided her home and arrested her son on August 29.
“Perhaps he is influenced by his mother, perhaps he is not,” Ms Bakos said.
“The fact remains the clothing worn by the applicant when purchasing the jerry can, has never been found.
“The phone used by the applicant prior to the media appeal is no longer used by him.”
The Epping teen last month became the first to be charged with the attempted murder of Mr Abdulrahim, 30, whose car was sprayed with bullets as he left his cousin’s funeral at Fawkner cemetery.
At least seven shots were fired, with five hitting Mr Abdulrahim in the chest.
He was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery and miraculously survived.
The court heard Mr Al Qassim was not one of the two hitmen who pulled the trigger.
He is instead accused of being one of the organisers who picked up the two men, both 18, from their homes in Broadmeadows and Thomastown in the hours before, and dropped them at the Mazda CX9 used in the drive-by shooting.
“I find the case against the applicant to be a strong circumstantial one,” Ms Bakos said.
“The evidence does, in my view, show the applicant to have been instrumental to the commission of the attempted murder.
“There is evidence of his involvement prior to the shooting and after.”
Mr Al Qassim was remanded in custody until his case returns to court in January.
JUNE 15, 2022
8.31pm: Police allege Yasir Al Qassim was captured on CCTV trying to conceal his face when at Bunnings in Epping where he purchased, with cash, two 20L plastic fuel containers: one grey and one red.
June 17, 2022
12.04pm: Mr Al Qassim is accused of using cash to buy a phone starter kit handset at Coles in the Pacific Epping shopping centre.
Later that day, he was allegedly spotted at 7-Eleven in Thomastown purchasing an Optus SIM card.
JUNE 25: DAY OF ALLEGED SHOOTING
9.51am: Police allege Mr Al Qassim left his Epping home with an unknown person in a black Ford Fiesta hatch.
The pair drove to pick up an 18-year-old man from his Broadmeadows residence, followed by another 18-year-old from Thomastown.
The two teenage males were then dropped at an unknown location to pick up a stolen, grey Mazda CX9 “in readiness for the shooting”, a court heard. Mr Al Qassim then drives home.
11.50am: Sam Abdulrahim, 30, leaves Fawkner cemetery where he had attended the burial of his cousin. He has two associates in his Mercedes-Benz G-class with him.
11.57am: While stopped in traffic on Box Forest Rd, the two offenders who were following in the Mazda CX9 pulled alongside his four-wheel-drive and discharged at least seven shots into the driver’s side door.
Mr Abdulrahim was struck five times in the upper body.
His two associates drive him to nearby Fawkner police station, where an ambulance is called and he is taken to hospital in a critical condition.
When trying to flee, the two offenders crashed the Mazda into another car, before slamming into a fire hydrant.
“Shooter 2” fled on foot, hiding momentarily in a bin behind KFC.
The other carjacked a black Ford Territory, forcing a mother and her four-year-old son out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
12.27pm: Mr Al Qassim allegedly leaves his Epping home in black Ford Fiesta with an unknown person.
1.09pm: Police allege Mr Al Qassim activated the mobile phone he purchased on June 17, with it connecting to a cell tower about 700m from the scene of the shooting.
1.25pm: Mr Al Qassim allegedly arrives at the Broadmeadows home of “Shooter 1”, and approaches the front door before turning around and leaving again.
2.22pm: Police say Mr Al Qassim returned to his Epping home where he and his unknown passenger met with “Shooter 1”, who was waiting in a nearby park.
“Shooter 1” had dumped the Ford Territory he carjacked in a nearby residential street and walked towards Mr Al Qassim’s house.
3.27pm: “Shooter 2” then meets up with them, arriving in a silver Nissan Navara, before they all get in the utility and drive off.
4.31pm: The Nissan Navara arrives at the Broadmeadows residence of “Shooter 1”, with Mr Al Qassim and the unknown male leaving in a taxi shortly after and returning to his Epping house. Mr Al Qassim is accused of providing “Shooter 2” with the mobile phone.
9.38pm: The two shooters use a stolen white Mazda CX8 to return to Brunswick Drive, Epping where the black Ford Territory was earlier dumped and set it alight. The white Mazda was dumped a short distance away.
Sometime that evening: Mr Al Qassim is accused of organising a passport for “Shooter 1”. Police say he was in contact with the cousin of the passport holder, who later falsely reported it stolen in an armed robbery.
June 26, 2022
One of the shooters flees the country.
June 27, 2022
The other shooter also gets on a plane for overseas.
July 24, 2022
7.01pm: Investigators conducting surveillance on Mr Al Qassim observe him walking towards a Volkswagen parked near his address.
He drove the car - suspected of being stolen weeks earlier - to a disused demolition site in Epping, where police say they saw him looking under the sub-floor of the abandoned building.
The accused was “spooked”, a police summary alleges, by a patrolling police unit and left the area, only to return 25 minutes later.
Police allege he then retrieved a BT3000 12-gauge shotgun from the floor, which he soon after dropped when trying to flee a police patrol unit.
A search of the premises also uncovered a 3D printed semi-automatic pistol.
August 3, 2022
Police release footage to the media from Bunnings Epping in a public appeal to try and identify a young man seen purchasing jerry cans from there on June 15, as they continue to probe the attempted murder of Mr Abdulrahim.
August 4, 2022
Police intercept a phone call between Mr Al Qassim’s mother and his brother, who is in prison.
His brother can allegedly be heard telling his mother to tell Mr Al Qassim to dispose of the clothing and wipe his phone.
August 29, 2022
Police raid homes across Melbourne, arresting six people, including Mr Al Qassim.
He is the only person charged and the others were released pending further enquiries.
He made a no comment interview.
September 7
Mr Al Qassim launches an application for bail in Melbourne Magistrates Court. The application continued on Thursday, but was adjourned to Monday.
September 12
Magistrate Donna Bakos refused Mr Al Qassim bail, saying no bail conditions could alleviate concerns he was an unacceptable risk to the safety and welfare of the public.
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