Married at First Sight star Jessika Power has paid a tearful tribute to her gangland ex boyfriend Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim after he was gunned down in an execution-style hit in Australia.
The notorious Melbourne kickboxer and former biker gang member, 32, was fatally shot by assassins in a car park outside the Quest Hotel in the north Melbourne suburb of Preston at around 10am on Tuesday.
Abdulrahim, who is understood to have had multiple bounties on his life, had a short-lived romance with the MAFS star in 2019, shortly after he was released from prison, where he had served time over a deadly high-speed crash.
Jessika, who also made appearances in Big Brother VIP and Celebs Go Dating, said her fears about the underworld were one of the reasons she ended the relationship with Abdulrahim.
But, she said, he had continued to support her behind the scenes, even up until a few months ago.
‘It’s been really, really hard to hear,’ Jessika told the Daily Mail Australia through tears.
Abdulrahim, who was part of an Australian biker group called the Mongols, was with his unidentified girlfriend when the savage gun attack was launched but miraculously she managed to escape unharmed after performed CPR on the injured man.
‘We ended on really good terms. He’s always been supportive to me if I needed him, even up until a few months ago,’ Jessika added.
Married At First Sight star Jessika Power has broken her silence over the shooting death of her former partner and Melbourne underworld figure, Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim
Jessika Power appeared on series 10 of Celebs Go Dating, which filmed in January 2022
Married At First Sight star Jessika Power fought back tears as she spoke about growing up with a drug-addicted mother on an episode of Celebs Go Dating
‘I just feel so sad for his wife and his child – she’s going to grow up without a dad and it’s such a toxic world to be in that underworld thing.’
Jessika paid tribute to her former partner as someone who was a ‘great protector’.
‘Everybody looks at these bikies and Mongols as bad people, but he was a family man, he was dedicated to his family,’ she said.
‘He was protective of his family and he was certainly protective of me when we were together.
‘He’s a dad, he’s a husband, he’s someone’s son and he’s just a really good guy.’
Friends and family of the feared gangster converged outside the hotel, where he is believed to have been shot in the underground car park.
Police managed up to 40 loved ones at the crime scene, with some allowed to enter the car park to see Abdulrahim’s body.
Other young men also arrived at the scene wearing black masks and hoodies, who were interecepted and quizzed by detectives at the location.
Police also said that a car fire in Reservoir just after 10.30am near the intersection of Northernhay and Alexandra streets was believed to be linked to the shooting.
The car was a white Porsche SUV.
The former Mongol biker club member had a short-lived romance with Jessika Power in 2019 but she told Daily Mail Australia they were still in touch
The former Mongol biker was once briefly in a relationship with Married At First Sight star Jessika
Jessika appeared on Big Brother VIP in 2021
A burnt out Porsche is seen just a kilometre from where Abdulrahim met his end on Tuesday
Distressed friends and family gather outside the police tape in Preston
Jessika met Abdulrahim through mutual friends. They debuted their relationship on Instagram on May 14, 2019, posting a photo of the pair together while she was getting a facial scrub.
She shared another photo of the duo cuddling up at a party days later, and the pair were pictured passionately kissing at Melbourne Airport on May 22, with the couple deciding to ‘take things slowly’.
Jessica said that despite Abdulrahim’s positive qualities, it was his underworld connections that scuttled the pair’s short-lived romance.
‘I just feel like that underworld thing at the minute in Melbourne and Sydney is just getting out of hand,’ she said.
‘It was part of the reason why I ended up leaving because I just didn’t want to be around that.
‘It makes my head rattle because there are all these people are out there having these wars, but basically you’re assassinating someone’s father, brother or kid’.
On Tuesday, Victoria Police’s Homicide Squad converged on the hotel where Abdulrahim was gunned down.
‘Emergency services were called to reports a man had been shot in a car park on High Street in Preston shortly after 10.30am on Tuesday, 28 January,’ a spokesperson said.
‘The man, who is yet to be formally identified, died at the scene. Police have cordoned off the area and a crime scene is in place.
‘At this early stage, police believe the incident was targeted.’
Friends of the feared gangster were seen gathering behind police tape at the scene just after midday.
Jessika paid tribute to her former partner as someone who was a ‘great protector’
The crime scene in Preston was cordoned off for much of Monday
Police are believed to have played close attention to Abdulrahim’s movements in the days and weeks before he was murdered.
One source told Daily Mail Australia he had been warned by police that he was at risk of murder by The Punisher, arriving at his door to warn him.
Underworld sources say Abdulrahim had no shortage of enemies.
Shortly after they met, Abdulrahim had just served two years of a three-years-and-three-months jail sentence he received after pleading guilty to killing a great-grandmother, 88-year-old Muriel Hulett, in a high-speed car crash in 2015.
The former bikie had been driving at 110km/h down the wrong side of the road in a 60km/h zone when he lost control of his Ferrari Spider and slammed into three cars, before hitting Mrs Hulett’s vehicle front-on. She died eight days later.
Over the years, Abdulrahim had been the target of three murder contracts, a prison bashing, three assaults, a dozen fire bombings and seven shootings.
In one attempted hit he was shot eight times and survived, and in another he escaped a barrage of bullets.
Jessika added that her bother Rhyce Power, who also briefly appeared on the reality show, was also devastated over the news of Abdulrahim’s death.
‘I just got off the phone to him and he’s devastated as well,’ she said.
‘He’s been a good friend to my brother for years as well.
‘This is just so f***ing sad.’
Abdulrahim’s sister Ektimal took to social media just hours after his death with a message for his killer.
‘Whoever shot my brother to death, I’m after u mother f***er,’ she wrote. ‘I know it’s u dog. Never ends here.’
The former Mongol biker had been living in hiding since two shootings at his former family home in Thomastown last year.
Abdulrahim reportedly taken extraordinary safety measures after he narrowly escaping an ambush outside his northern suburbs home in May 2024, where gunmen shot at him 17 times.
His Lalor home, shot up in another drive-by and then later firebombed, had been left abandoned and unlivable.
Abdulrahim’s Instagram account was reportedly littered with deliberate false trails.
Abdulrahim’s sister Ektimal (pictured) took to social media just hours after his death with a message for his killer
Crime boss George Marrogi killed a man who had been with Abdulrahim. Some say Abdulrahim’s involvement made him a marked man
One photo was supposedly posted from Lebanon with the caption: ‘Feels good to be in motherland’, at the same time he was seen drinking in a Melbourne bar.
In September, he appeared to be working as a bodyguard for Russian mixed martial arts star Khabib Nurmagomedov at an event in Kuala Lumpur, according to the newspaper.
Abdulrahim was linked to the 2016 murder of northern suburbs drug trafficker Kadir Ors by Marrogi outside Campbellfield Plaza.
Allies of Ors believed Abdulrahim had arranged to meet the victim at the shopping centre, where he would be targeted for the brutal shooting carried out by crime boss George Marrogi.
Among the others with a grudge against the notorious underworld figure were reportedly his former biker club – the Mongols – as well as high-ranking members of the Comancheros and a host of Middle Eastern organised crime figures.
His family members and friends had also become caught in the crossfire from rivals.
Sources told The Age that Abdulrahim’s relatives and associates had become virtual social pariahs as a result of a recent wave of attacks, with many fearing they would put themselves at risk if they associated with them.
Late last year, the relative of a close associate of Abdulrahim was reportedly held at gunpoint in their home and released only in exchange for £75,000, the newspaper reported.
Sam Abdulrahim survived an execution attempt in 2022
Abdulrahim outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court following a wild brawl
Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim was shot dead on Tuesday in Melbourne
The demand for money was punishment for the associate’s continued support of Abdulrahim. The kidnapping was never reported to police.
Abdulrahim became a household name across the country when he survived a brazen assassination attempt after a funeral.
Gunmen shot him eight times as he left his cousin’s funeral in Fawkner in June 2022.
The alleged hitmen infiltrated the memorial and tracked Abdulrahim’s car as he left the cemetery before driving up alongside his Mercedes and opening fire.
In February last year a Thornbury venue set to hold a boxing match in Abdulrahim’s bid for a world title was burned down.
Then in May, two crews lured him out of his Thomastown home by setting his parents’ cars on fire outside their Brunswick home.
Meanwhile, a second group of shooters laid in wait outside the Thomastown property, firing at him 17 times, but missing the mark.
Just weeks later, gunmen returned to his vacant home and shot into the house again, but this time Abdulrahim was nowhere to be found.
In his last weeks alive, Abdulrahim was said to have become ‘something of a ghost’ as he moved between Melbourne, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
His luck finally ran out.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam/CCTV footage, or any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
