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Nicholas and George Ibrahim
Nicholas
Ibrahim and his brother George Ibrahim are both
convicted thieves, heroin users and pushers.
On the the night of
August 15, 1998, two police officers were gunned down in Moorabbin.
Sergeant
Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller had been staking out several
restaurants which were seen as potential targets for a pair of armed robbers who
had been raiding many establishments in Melbourne's east.
The two policemen pulled
over a suspect vehicle and two men opened fire killing them both.
A police taskforce named
Lorimer was established to identify and capture the murderers.
In September, the phone rang at the
Lorimer office. A warden from
Port Phillip Prison said that a prisoner had some useful information on the
case. Detective Senior Constable Joe D'Alo
and a detective from the Armed Robbery Squad, Ashley Carlin-Smith, visited the
jail and spoke to Florin Dragoescu, a convicted drug dealer. "Heard
a coupla Russians were planning to do a stick-up in Noble Park a few months
back. June or July. Crazy fucks," Dragoescu told the detectives. "They
carry guns and don't care what cunt got in the road. Cops'd be a bonus, you know
what I mean. Apparently their car was packed to the gills with smack...sack of
the shit!...straight off the boat." "Had
some business in the 'burbs and some silly pig stuck his snout in. That's where
youse blokes should be looking." But
Dragoescu would not give any names or addresses and it was clear to the police
officers he was seeking a few more privileges for a few more facts., but D'Alo
opted out. Meantime, another
Lorimer crew had fished out a crim by the name of Leon Feisch, a know
drug-dealer with possible links to the Russian mafia. Tips
from the Drug Squad and elsewhere conjured up a story similar to Dragoescu's
yarn One member, a likely
associate of Feisch, was Bora Altintas. Altintas
was reputedly in Melbourne the weekend of the murders- and left unscheduled the
next morning. Gamblers at
Crown Casino added fuel to the rumour a few weekends after the killings. A
police informer over heard talk from a South Australian party who seemed to know
the case a little too well, boozing and talking about he killings in detail. Again
the name of Altintas was mentioned. He'd
been carrying heroin, so went the talk, and a semi-automatic on his hip. Lorimer
detectives began doing their homework on Altintas. But
before Det Sgt Sol Soliman could arrange a trip to Adelaide, Altintas,
who was on bail, was repeatedly shot as
he walked down an Adelaide street on
Monday September 21, 1998. This
time he didn't survive.
Dying in the street, the man was
asked to name his killer, and refused, choosing instead to implicate another
underworld figure, George Ibrahim, as a major trafficker in the heroin trade. Ibrahim,
and Ken Tan, dubbed the Chinaman, were linked to Bora's killing, though no
charges would ever be laid. The
motive for killing Alintas was said to be a
payback for a double-cross drug deal. But
growing intelligence suggested Alintas was not
present when Silk and Miller were shot. When
Lorimer detectives finally journeyed to Adelaide, they spoke to Alintas'
family and associates.
Alibi statements, mobile call charge
records and several reliable sightings of the Russian in Adelaide on the weekend
of August 15/16 exonerated the dead man.
Yet the trip wasn't wasted entirely;
the name of George Ibrahim would resurface on the Lorimer radar.
One week into
1999, the name of underworld enforcer Nik
Radev name crossed the Lorimer
desk through an informer attached to St
Kilda CIB.
The middle man was Detective
Sergeant Dave Waters.
He was under investigation by the
Ethical Standards Division at the time over his links and interests within St
Kilda's bars and brothels.
Waters, a former close friend of
Silk, had been accused by insiders of relying on compassionate leave since the
police murders to forestall any questioning by the Ethical lads.
Before taking crook, though, Waters
produced, on January 6, a drug offender called Ilias Bafas.
The man knew Radev
and El-Sheikh
intimately from underground networks.
Bafas said he was holding guns for
Radev, until Radev was nabbed and Bafas got jumpy.
He said Nik and El-Sheikh had done
the two cops in Moorabbin for sure.
He rattled off correct calibres to
detectives.
His timelines and locations added up
too, pointing the finger squarely at Radev and El-Sheikh for the double murder.
Most of the taskforce were
growing keen on the pair, but others maintained their cynicism.
Maybe Bafas was being spoon-fed the
relevant facts by an unknown party, they argued.
Maybe Bafas was a puppet, and this
so-called breakthrough was a ploy to avert attention from the puppeteer's own
illegal activities.
Detective
Sergeant Waters was later charged, along with Nicholas Ibrahim and three other St Kilda
officers over alleged drug trafficking.
 George
and Nick Ibrahim became persons of
interest to Lorimer investigators after a man named Andrew Jordanou popped up.
Jordanou (left) was a mechanic and is
described in One Down, One Missing as a short aggro customer of 26 who
was known to police.
On July 29, 1998, a couple of weeks
before the police shootings, Jordanou had strolled into the Moorabbin CIB with
news of robbery and extortion.
A few days before, five unknown nem
had allegedly entered his workshop in Cheltenham and threatened him with
violence.
The supposed leader of the group was
named "Nick" and he'd done most of the talking.
"If you don't pay up $90,000 by
the end of the week," he'd told Jordanou, "then I'll grab your fiancée
and fuck her in front of you. After that, I'll blow her away in front of you,
too."
"Ninety grand?" said Det
Sen Cons Mick Coughlan, who recorded the statement.
"They reckon I owe some guy
$110,000," said Jordanou.
"I didn't know what they were
talking about. First I thought they were joking."
But the men, said Jordanou, were
serious.
Slapping and punching him, they
forced him to write down the phone numbers of his parents and fiancée, plus his
own address and phone number.
In fear of his life he filled out a
job card authorising "Nick" to drive Jordanou's Honda Prelude around
town.
He surrendered the keys.
He gave the men $10,000 worth of
personal jewellery including an 18-carat gold necklace depicting a soccer
player.
Four days after the visit, an anonymous
caller rang the workshop and reminded Jordanou he was running out of time.
Jordanou was frightened for his life
and contacted police who opened a file.
The extortionists phone call was
traced to Oakwood Street, St Albans.
The house belonged to Nina Failia,
de facto of George Ibrahim, sister-in-law of Nick Ibrahim, both men convicted thieves,
heroin users and pushers.
Nick Ibrahim was later seen dealing speed with Jordanou which led to doubts in
the minds of police over the truthfulness of Jordanou's claims.
On August 3, 1998, when uniformed
cops called on the St Albans address, the found George Ibrahim (who lied about his name and later scarpered through the backyard)
and Jordanou's Honda Prelude (which police commandeered).
A later visit by CIB uncovered an
indoor marijuana crop.
They also learnt that Paul
Sawan, a
Roweville shopkeeper, was Jordanou's likely creditor.
Police believed that Sawan had been
dealing drugs from his store.
Sawan was once a member of the
Lebanese Tigers, a gang that specialised in gatecrashing partes in the early 80s
and lapsing into knife fights when the hospitality ran out.
Sawan drove a dark Land Rover that
matched Jordanou's description from the standover visit in July.
So where's the link to the Lorimer
investigation?
Turn the clock forward to the
weekend of the murders and the arrival of two hit men from Sydney.
Clearly Jordanou's tactic of taking
his complaint to police was not popular with the underworld and some of the
'debt-collectors' may have believed he needed fixing.
A hit man was called on. Two in
fact.
Remember that George Ibrahim had a hit man reputation for is alleged gunplay in Adelaide after
Lorimer suspect Bora Altintas was gunned down,
though no charges were laid.
Instead other warrants were issued
by South Australian Police on Ibrahim's
arrest for numerous drug offences.
Already breaking parole in Adelaide,
the fugitive owed Her Majesty two years' jail even before his sundry charges
could be processed.
As soon as his name had rejoined the
Lorimer database, thanks to the Jordanou affair, Ibrahim was a cornered man.
The flare-up with Jordanou had only
gone to blow his cover.
Another reason why the Ibrahim boy opted for some out-of-town talent to do the deed on
Jordanou; why one
alleged hit man hire two alleged hit men to remove a nuisance too close to home.
Peter Ayoub and
Stavros 'Steve'
Rodarellis were drafted for the job.
Both had long histories and a talent
for violence.
Already that month, Ayoub, 28, had
been linked to the attempted murder of truck driver, Darren
Hicks, in Liverpool,
Sydney.
Hicks, a known drug trafficker,
later fled to Adelaide where he refused to press charges against his assailant.
According to the grapevine, Ayoub's
other chore was rebirthing stolen cars and chauffeuring heroin by the kilo
around the Punchbowl area.
By contrast Rodarellis had no
priors.
There were rumours that the pair
flew to Melbourne on the night Silk and Miller were murdered.
Nicholas
Ibrahim was getting engaged.
In fact a guest at the Aurora
Reception Centre took a video of the party.
The tape would suggest that the two
Sydneysiders, both armed on the night, went missing shortly after dessert.
Other reports would emerge from the
party.
Namely that wads of cash were
exchanged between the hosts and their interstate visitors; that Rodarellis grew
abusive during the speeches and the men were asked to leave around 11pm.
Suspicions strengthened.
A party guest recalled the pair's
hurried exit from Melbourne. Margaret, an air hostess, recalled a loudmouth
gentleman answering Ayoub's description with a golden soccer player around his
neck. Another report told how Nick Ibrahim and his fiancée confiscated all
photos and negatives from the reception.
On April 14, 1999, Lorimer Det
Sgt Darren Humphries contacted the NSW Homicide Squad and requested a mugshot of
Ayoub.
Humphries stood by the fax machine
as the face came through.
He couldn't contain his excitement
as he watched the suspect's hair, then forehead, then caterpillar eyebrows. The
narrow face. The ponytail. The Punchbowl druggie matched the suspect described
by Senior Constable Bendeich and fellow
officer Darren Sherren.
Humphries was convinced Ayoub was their man.
Detectives examined the bank accounts of both
Ayoub and Rodarellis.
Despite the cash spotted at the engagement party,
no sudden influx marked for the August period.
A month later, search warrants were issued for
the two men's Sydney homes.
Roderellis watched detectives pull a .22 calibre
rifle from his parents' roof, plus guns, silencers, beanies, gloves and blood
stained jeans from his Torana's boot. (DNA testing later linked the stains to
Darren Hicks and Ayoub.) The suspect was conveyed to Flemington police station.
"I flew to Melbourne with Peter Ayoub,"
said Roderellis in his recorded statement.
The document went on to say that he drank too
much, leaving the party early with Ayoub.
Afterwards the pair checked out the Crown Casino.
I've never heard of Moorabbin in my life, he said. As for the guns and
silencers, he'd found that stuff someplace but couldn't remember exactly where.
As for Ayoud, the search of his house uncovered a
speed lab, two kilos of amphetamines, jewellery, a .308 calibre firearm plus
ammunition - but no Ayoub.
A week later, the suspect walked into a police
station with his solicitor. A prepared statement touched on key points:
Rodarellis got paralytic at the party - that's
why tje two left early. Just after midnight. In a taxi.
They were driven back to their hotel.
Ayoub put Rodarellis in a bath tub, and the he
joined the Ibrahims to play the pokies down at Crown.
He returned to his hotel about 4 a.m.
The only parts of Melbourne that he knew were
Carlton, Brunswick and the city. He's never been to Moorabbin and he'd never
killed no cops.
His hunch was that Nicholas Ibrahim was trying to
set him up for the murders.
The last known men to see Silk and Miller alive - Senior Constables Bendeich
and Sherren - were later flown to Sydney.
One by one the witnesses walked along an ID
parade which had Ayoub at Position 3.
"I cannot say one hundred per cent,"
said Bendeich.
"The person that I recognise most would be
Number 3."
Sherren went the other way.
"I can say that Number 5 and Number 9 bear
the closest similarity to my recollection."
Ayoub left the station a free man although he
later received a four-year sentence on charges arising from the raid on his
home.
The investigation had hit another brick wall.
Andrew Jordanou would later
experience more trouble.
He was involved in obtaining property by
deception in the Moorabbin area in August 2001.
He was arrested and charged but failed to appear
in court.
Warrants for his arrest were issued and his image
was on the crime stoppers web-site in April 2007.
Nicholas Ibrahim, a property
developer, along with four serving and former police
officers, was charged
with drug trafficking after an alleged mock raid in
St Kilda in May 1999.
The four policemen, including two detective sergeants, were all based at St
Kilda.
They were accused of trafficking
$100,000 worth of cannabis.
Charged were David
Waters, who was discharged in January 2003, serving officers Det-Sgt Glenn
Saunders, suspended in
April 2002, Sen-Det Peter John Alexander and Sen-Det Stephen Russell Campbell.
They were all suspended from active
duty.
Det Sen-Sgt George Tapai, from the
ethical standards division, alleged in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court the
trafficking occurred on May 10, 1999.
Det Sen-Sgt Tapai said Det-Sgt
Saunders had "an association" with Mr Ibrahim, who had arranged to buy
13.6kg of cannabis from another person.
Ibrahim and Saunders have been
linked in press reports that Saunders walked into a pub in the company of
Ibrahim, a known gangland figure, and threatened an anti-corruption police
officer.
Adam Shand, of The Bulletin wrote
that Ibrahim walked straight up to former detective and corruption
whistleblower, Simon Illingworth and glared right in his face.
Illingworth believed there was a
message here - pull up Simon, if you know what's good for you. Shand
also wrote that the same cop and villain pair were
pictured on the front page of the Herald Sun
newspaper from CCTV footage socialising together in a
pub.
Ibrahim had agreed to buy the
drugs for $100,000, the court heard.
He allegedly arranged to meet an unnamed person at the St Kilda Marina for the deal.
Det Sen-Sgt Tapai said Mr Ibrahim
then told Det-Sgt Saunders about the plan.
Det-Sgt Saunders and the three other
officers allegedly intercepted the car carrying the drugs and seized cannabis in
rubbish bags.
It was alleged the detectives then
gave the drugs to Mr Ibrahim.
No arrests were made and the
officers charged no one, the court heard.
Det Sen-Sgt Tapai said evidence
against the officers included witnesses and telephone intercepts.
Alex
Lewenberg, for Mr Ibrahim, said his client was a
self-employed builder.
Det Sen-Sgt Tapai said he did not
oppose bail for the five men.
Magistrate Barbara Cotterell granted
the officers bail, saying they were not a risk of fleeing.
Ms Cotterell also granted Mr Ibrahim
bail.
The court suppressed the five men's
addresses.
Each faced charges of theft, drug
possession, trafficking a drug, conspiring to traffick and conspiring to steal.
Mr Ibrahim faced an extra charge of
trafficking cannabis.
A few days before the 2003 committal hearing,
Ibrahim was involved in a shooting.
On September 9, 2003, Zayat
was run off a road and shot in the
head near Derrimut and Boundary Roads in Tarneit, west of Melbourne, at 10.30pm.
Zayat had left a halfway house in North
Melbourne just after 10pm and drove to a meeting with business
associate Nicholas Ibrahim
in an isolated paddock. With Zayat
was his dog and an articled clerk
named Ali
Aydin.
Ibrahim had earlier agreed to buy Mr Zayat's
share in the city nightclub Khokolat for $200,000, and Ibrahim had agreed to pay
him a $20,000 cash deposit.
When the cars stopped Ibrahim got into Mr Zayat's
car and a "short verbal exchange" took place followed by another
outside the cars.
Ibrahim produced a pump-action shotgun and pulled
the trigger, but the safety catch was on.
Ibrahim followed Mr Zayat
as he ran around a tree
and jumped a barbed wire fence before shooting at him five times.
Aydin, who had stayed in the car, a red Holden
Commodore sedan, reversed a car into a tree forcing him to flee across paddocks
to report the shooting to police after Ibrahim allegedly smashed the windscreen
with the butt his the weapon.
Aydin ran about 12 kilometres to the Sunshine police station, where he is believed
to have identified the gunman.
Ibrahim allegedly told police he shot Mr Zayat
as
a result of threats to him and his family over the nightclub deal. Ibrahim
once helped raise a surety for Mr Zayat's bail and accompanied
Zayat's family
when they picked him up from jail.
On September 15, 2003,
Ibrahim faced court over the shooting.
Ibrahim, 34, of Newport faced Melbourne
Magistrates' Court and appeared before a bail justice in the offices
of the St Kilda Rd Police Complex.
He was remanded in custody.
Ibrahim was the first person to be charged over
any of Melbourne's underworld slayings.
He told police he went
"ballistic" and shot Mr Zayat
after Zayat became
aggressive and appeared to reach for a firearm.
Ibrahim pleaded not
guilty and said he acted in self-defence when he shot
Zayat.
The prosecution argued Mr
Zayat was unarmed and had
been deliberately killed.
On September 17, 2003 the Age reported that,
in a committal hearing, a court
was told police allegedly took 13.5 kilograms of marijuana
valued at $100,000 from a man during a drug raid by corrupt detectives.
Daniel May, a witness, told the Melbourne
Magistrates Court that he had arranged to deliver the cannabis - which another
man had brought from South Australia - to an associate at the St Kilda Marina on
May 10, 1999.
Mr May said that during the drug deal, two cars
pulled up unexpectedly and some plain-clothes police got out.
He said one grabbed him, handcuffed him and threw
him face down to the ground.
He said that in the split second before he fell,
he saw one of the men getting plastic bags full of marijuana from the back of
his truck before throwing them to another.
The police then let him go.
Another man, Mario Katsoulas, 41, of Malvern,
was
charged with conspiring to traffic cannabis.
Mr May told the court: "Out of the corner of
my eye I saw someone climb onto the back of the truck... I heard the toolbox
open and someone pulled out the two garbage bags."
Mr May said that when the police finally lifted
him off the ground, they told him they knew he was just a delivery boy and that
he would not have to take "the rap".
He said that before letting him go, they told him
to "pull your head in, don't let us see you with this shit again".
The court was told that at the time, nobody was
charged over the matter.
Detective Inspector Robert
Hodgkins, who was Sergeant Saunders' supervisor, described Saunders as extremely
competent and capable.
"He was a person who got the job done and
worried about the follow-up later," Inspector Hodgkins said.
"He was very effective."
Inspector Hodgkins told the court that Saunders
gave him an information report in May 1999, saying he had intercepted Mr May at
the St Kilda Marina looking for a gun in his truck, but could not find any
firearms inside.
The officers all denied the charges.
They maintained that while they'd been
present at the marina, they were there to search for guns and had never
encountered any drugs.
On December 9, 2003, Melbourne
Magistrates' Court was told suspended Det-Sgt
Glenn Saunders had used an alleged underworld gunman to intimidate the
policeman investigating him and had accepted
a bribe to help free an accused drug trafficker.
Det-Sgt Saunders was charged on
the morning of December 9 with attempting to corruptly receive money and
conspiring and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Det-Sgt Simon Illingworth told
the court Det-Sgt Saunders had accepted an unknown bribe and organised to accept
$6000 more in a string of secret meetings.
The court heard accused
amphetamines trafficker Robin Vincent Holt was arrested on November 13, 2001 and
his girlfriend, Danielle Sinclair, and associate, Brian Hyland, were told to get
him bail.
Det-Sgt Illingworth said Ms
Sinclair contacted Det-Sgt Saunders on his tapped mobile phone two days after Mr
Holt's arrest and had a coded conversation.
"This call meant . . .
there was plenty of money available if Holt's court case could be assisted by
Det-Sgt Saunders,'' he said.
Over the next three months Ms
Sinclair and Det-Sgt Saunders had 43 phone conversations, met 11 times and he
was seen by surveillance units leaving her house, the court heard.
During a midnight meeting in
Fawkner Park, Det-Sgt Saunders allegedly accepted an unknown bribe.
The court heard Det-Sgt Saunders
was promised a further $6000 by Ms Sinclair and Mr Hyland upon Mr Holt's release
on bail.
The court heard Ms Sinclair had
made a statement against Det-Sgt Saunders outlining their alleged dealings and
was prepared to give evidence against him.
In her statement, she claimed to
have paid Det-Sgt Saunders protection money so she could carry out her criminal
activities with minimal interference.
Det-Sgt Illingworth said that
during the investigation he was in a city pub with a friend when Det-Sgt
Saunders walked through with alleged underworld gunman Nicholas Ibrahim.
"Ibrahim is known to me as
an underworld identity . . . he was glaring at me, intimidating me,'' he said.
"It achieved its purpose.''
Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke told the
court the blatant nature of the intimidation led to concerns that Det-Sgt
Saunders would put pressure on Ms Sinclair, who was a vulnerable witness.
Defence lawyer Tony Hargreaves
argued there was no direct evidence his client had accepted or agreed to accept
a bribe.
He said the case relied on a
statement from Ms Sinclair, a career criminal, who could gain a discount on her
own sentence for giving evidence.
Magistrate Barbara Cotterell
granted Det-Sgt Saunders bail on strict conditions to appear in court again in
March.
In 2004 the case against the officers had a major setback.
A key witness in the case, who pleaded guilty to his role in the
alleged conspiracy to traffic marijuana, refused to testify, saying he feared
for the safety of his wife and family.
On March 7, 2005, Ibrahim's committal hearing
over the Sam Zayat shooting heard Ali Aydin
witnessed Nicholas Ibrahim chase Zayat with a
pump action shotgun and shoot him five times.
The court heard Aydin was then chased by
Ibrahim but managed to escape
through a paddock and alert police.
Aydin was expected to give evidence in Ibrahim's committal
hearing but later told the magistrate he did not
want to participate in the proceedings.
On March 8, 2005, Aydin, and
Ibrahim came face to face in court.
When he was called as a Crown witness, Aydin
repeatedly refused to answer questions or take part in the hearing. He said he
would not acknowledge his statement to police and wanted it withdrawn, but later
he agreed he had signed it as true and correct.
His reasons for refusing to testify were suppressed.
The Magistrate warned Aydin he could face contempt of court charges.
The case was adjourned until the following week.
On June 6, 2005, Ali Aydin was jailed for refusing to give evidence
against Ibrahim.
Aydin pleaded not guilty to a charge of contempt of court laid by
magistrate Audrey Jamieson after the committal hearing in March.
Aydin, who is serving a sentence of three years with a minimum of 22 months
for unrelated matters, pleaded not guilty to contempt.
Defence lawyer Ron Clark submitted that Aydin was under duress and there was
insufficient evidence to prove the charge because the court had not heard all
the facts.
Ms Jamieson said that Aydin "had the misfortune" of being a witness
to an alleged murder, and had voluntarily made a police statement and was
compelled to give evidence at the hearing.
She said that after he refused to answer direct questions he got legal advice
and maintained his stance before later confirming his refusal to testify.
She described Aydin's contempt as intentional and deliberate. It had the
potential to seriously disrupt the administration of justice.
Ms Jamieson sentenced Aydin to two months' jail, to be served cumulatively on
his present sentence.
Ibrahim
pleaded not guilty but was sent for trial on the charge of murder.
On May 26, 2005, the jury acquitted
the three serving detectives, and former detective Waters.
Later that day, ABC
Radio's PM program revealed
details about an investigation into a threat allegedly made against a number
of jurors case.
PM reported that police
were investigating a complaint
made by three jurors that they were approached outside court by a man who made
a threatening comment.
Nick McKenzie reported that the members claimed that, mid-trial, they were approached outside court during
their lunch break.
It's believed the jurors had stated that a man who'd been present in court
on at least two occasions walked up to them and made a threatening remark.
The jury members told court officials about the approach, who then relayed the
details to police and the Office of Public Prosecutions.
It was believed the man who made the approach was employed in the building
industry, and had since been interviewed by police and denied that he made
a threat or was linked to any of the four accused.
It was one of a number of threats against people linked to the case which
had
come to the attention of the court.
as well as the key witness
refusing to testify the prosecution also raised concerns that another witness
had been intimidated by a man in court.
That man is Mick Crehen (phonetic), a Victorian criminal, and a person the
court heard is also close associate of one of the defendants, former police
officer David Waters.
On February 17, 2006
Nicholas Ibrahim stood in the dock of the Victorian
Supreme Court after a jury found him guilty of Zayat's
murder.
His body trembled and his
hands shook uncontrollably as the verdict meant that he
could expect prison for 20 years, and possibly more.
But the verdict was all a
big mistake.
In a monumental legal
faux pas, the jury forewoman had announced the wrong
verdict.
What she meant to say was
not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.
The difference in the
jail sentence could be about 10 years, sometimes more.
After almost four days of
deliberations — and about 20 minutes after declaring
she and her fellow jurors were unanimous in finding
Ibrahim guilty of murder — the jury was suddenly back
in court.
With Ibrahim taking sips
of water and dabbing his lips with tissues, Justice
Geoffrey Nettle said he had received a message from the
jury that something needed to be added to what the
forewoman had "already said".
The jury had returned to
the jury room where, Justice Nettle learned, and
revealed later, that "some heated discussions were
apparently heard".
After a brief
adjournment, Justice Nettle told prosecutor Mark Gamble
and defence barrister Remy van de Wiel, QC, that he had
received a note from the jury that indicated the
forewoman had made a mistake in answer to questions put
by his associate about their verdict.
The jury was recalled
shortly before 1pm and the verdict delivered again.
This time, the forewoman
corrected the first verdict, announced Ibrahim guilty of
manslaughter and explained that "we"
misunderstood the question.
"We apologise to the
court," she said.
Taking deep breaths,
Ibrahim thanked the jury saying: "God bless you
all."
After the jury left, Mr
van de Wiel said the jury had simply made a mistake, had
rectified it and "thank God for that".
Mr Gamble sought time to
get legal advice, and later told Justice Nettle that he
had the power to accept the second verdict.
Justice Nettle agreed and
allowed the original verdict to be altered to rectify
the mistake and bring "justice to the case".
Speaking later, Mr van de
Wiel said he believed such a jury mistake had not
occurred in Victoria "in living memory".
Speaking later through
his solicitor, Jim Valos, Ibrahim apologised to Mr Zayat's
family and told The Age that "if he could
change things he would".
The case was adjourned
until a pre-sentence hearing.
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