‘I had an epiphany’: The cop, the reformed crook and the case of the missing testicle

A veteran detective has recounted the moment he lowered his gun from the “shoot to kill” position to give a hammer-wielding crook a second chance at life – albeit with one less testicle.

Detective Sergeant Peter Griffiths (left) shot Abdul Ibrahim in the testicle as he ran towards him with a claw hammer. Pictures: Valeriu Campan

The concern for his colleagues’ welfare, the second guessing … the noise and the smell.

Detective Sergeant Peter Griffiths remembers clearly the moment he pulled the trigger and its aftermath.

It was January 29 last year and a drug-fuelled Abdul Ibrahim, his arms above his head wielding a claw hammer, was charging at the Victorian policeman and his colleagues.

“Seeing the accused for the first time … with the hammer rushing at the police members still sends chills down my spine,” Sergeant Griffiths said.

“As the supervisor on scene, the welfare of all the persons involved was my responsibility.”

There were no truer words than “slow moving train” for the scenario unfolding before his eyes, he said.

“What happened in a second seemed to take forever,” Sergeant Griffiths said.

“As the accused rushed at me with the hammer raised to strike me, I was aiming, as trained, for the centre of (his) seen body mass.

“But in the split second before pulling the trigger, it’s like the pause button had been pressed. I had an epiphany. I realised that shooting the accused in the chest would result most likely in death.”

Sergeant Griffiths “deliberately lowered my aim”. He wanted to stop Ibrahim, not kill him.

“Make no mistake, had the accused not stopped but continued towards me, that firearm was going to be raised and I would have shot him in his chest,” he told County Court judge Paul Higham as he read out his victim impact statement in court.

Sergeant Griffiths discharged one round from his pistol. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The shooting took place outside Ibrahim’s Meadow Heights home. Picture: Valeriu Campan

It is a move for which Ibrahim, 35, is now grateful, despite the bullet instead hitting his groin, leaving him with just one testicle after emergency surgery.

The shooting took place outside Ibrahim’s Meadow Heights home following an investigation into a terrifying Australia Day armed robbery at the nearby BP in Coolaroo three days earlier.

A man sporting a black face mask, white and blue gloves, sunglasses, hooded jacket and red shoes had entered the service station and pulled out a hammer to demand cigarettes and cash.

When he jumped the counter and yelled at the female store attendant, she quickly retreated into a safe-haven room, locking the door and pressing the duress alarm.

The bandit grabbed cigarettes before smashing the register with the hammer to pry it open. He ran off with $400 cash and the smokes.

Police dogs had tracked the robber’s scent on the day to an intersection some 300m from Ibrahim’s Mitchell Crescent residence.

CCTV showing the offender on foot, then led police to Ibrahim’s doorstep three days later. When Sergeant Griffiths and his Hume CIU crew arrived, Ibrahim was not home, but he returned soon after, and became enraged at seeing police at his residence.

“F--k you, you dogs,” he yelled at the members, before pulling out a hammer he had secreted on him.

“Come on c--t! Let’s go!” he said as he continued towards the officers, ignoring their requests to drop the weapon.

As one officer attempted to use OC spray to stop him, Ibrahim pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes and continued to close the gap between them.

Sergeant Griffiths and two other officers then drew their firearms.

“Do it,” Ibrahim egged them on.

As Ibrahim ran towards them, Sergeant Griffiths discharged one round from his pistol, hitting him in the groin when he was just two metres away.

It stopped him enough for OC spray to be deployed and officers to tackle him to the ground, though he continued to resist while they put on handcuffs.

The court heard Ibrahim, who immigrated to Australia with his family as a young boy, had fallen into a revolving door of drugs and crime that he could not escape.

Ibrahim was wielding a claw hammer.

In what Judge Higham described as one of the most compassionate and powerful statements he had read, Sergeant Griffiths offered an olive branch to Ibrahim to get his life back on track.

“For me, justification and salvation will come from the accused and what he makes of his future,” Sergeant Griffiths said. “I am sure that when he is released he will receive support to help him make his life a positive one.”

Speaking directly to Ibrahim, the officer said: “Please make use of that chance you have been given. Take the courage to make something and move forward with your life.

“Then, and only at that time, will I feel vindicated of giving the accused that chance.”

Judge Higham told Ibrahim not to waste the opportunity given him.

“I won’t,” he repeatedly said, before apologising to Sergeant Griffiths. “If I could take it back, I would.”

This year marks three decades in the force for Sergeant Griffiths, who graduated from the academy in 1993.

“I have never had to so much as draw my firearm out of its holster in that time,” he said.

That was until this incident, when a regular 7am shift changed his life, and Ibrahim’s.

“I had no inkling about what was to unfold or how (my shift) would finish,” Sergeant Griffiths said.

“What I can say is this, if as a police officer, shooting an offender is on your bucket list then being a sworn police officer in this country is not the job for you.

“I signed up to fundamentally help people, the community, and to make a difference.”

With the firing of a police weapon, comes the long trail of paperwork and questioning by the constabulary.

“The general public would have no idea what happens to police members after a shooting incident,” Sergeant Griffiths said.

“The isolation from everyone for evidentiary reasons, the drug and alcohol testing, making a statement, having your OSTT (operational safety tactics training) suspended and then having to prove that you are capable of carrying a firearm again.

“There are processes to ensure the safety and security of the police members involved and the public. These safeguards are necessary and I have no issue with that.”

Through the support of his family, friends, police colleagues and professionals, Sergeant Griffiths was able to return to work part-time only in April.

Ibrahim faced the County Court last month. Picture: David Crosling

“I don’t know if my employer considers my actions on the day to be incompetent, or even cowardly considering I went off script in not shooting the centre of seen body mass,” he told the court.

“But for me, it was my hand holding the firearm, and my finger pulling the trigger.

“Taking a life is in such conflict with humanity and one I find difficult even to this day to reconcile within myself.

“My conscience is less affected knowing that the accused survived. I do not consider myself to be either brave or courageous, but a broken man who came close to taking a human life.”

Flashbacks of the shooting have been triggered by life events, including seeing his sister’s six-year-old grandson playing innocently with a toy gun.

“I had to leave the room,” Sergeant Griffiths said.

“Another time, helping my brother-in-law, I looked for a hammer in his garage. I couldn’t grab the claw hammer as it was the same type of hammer that the accused had.”

Ibrahim pleaded guilty to armed robbery, resisting arrest and five counts of threatening to assault an emergency worker on duty.

After spending 464 days on remand, he walked free from the County Court last month promising to be of good behaviour and follow a stringent drug and alcohol treatment order.

Under the 37-month order, he cannot leave Victoria and must not commit further offending, abstain from drugs and alcohol, and stick to a 9pm to 6am curfew.

He cannot attend gaming venues or use online gambling apps, and will have to complete educational and employment programs and undergo mental health and drug treatment.

He is subjected to regular drug testing and also returns to court before Judge Higham weekly for judicial monitoring.