Ex-bikie: jail worse than being shot at outside funeral

An ex-bikie who was thrown in a cell after his parole was cancelled says it was the worst thing to happen in his life, even though he was shot at outside his cousin's funeral.

Sam Abdulrahim, a professional boxer known as "The Punisher", is suing the state of Victoria, its parole board and the department of justice for allegedly unlawfully revoking his parole in June 2019.

The parole board believed Abdulrahim had been the intended target of two shootings and a firearm incident, and being on parole could have posed a public safety risk.

The 31-year-old former Mongols bikie was shopping at Woolworths when a black car pulled up and fugitive detectives told him there was a hit on his head. 

He then spent 72 days in jail and was released back on parole in August 2019.

Abdulrahim, who took to the witness box on the first day of his Supreme Court civil trial on Monday,  said he is now fearful of police knocking on his door to throw him in jail again.

"I did used to trust the police, until my parole got pulled," he said. 

"I'm always looking over my shoulder, when are they going to grab me again?"

Abdulrahim said he felt "trapped like a dog" in jail, and was handcuffed and "shackled like an animal" to walk to family visits. 

Barrister Sarala Fitzgerald, representing the state, department and parole board, questioned Abdulrahim on the impact of being locked up after the parole revocation.

She outlined Abdulrahim's past, including being jailed for killing a woman in a car crash in 2015 and being shot at eight times outside his cousin's funeral in June 2022. 

"You've survived many incredibly traumatic moments in your life ... It's hardly the worst thing that has happened to you," she said.

"It is the worst thing. How can you say that?" Abdulrahim replied.

Abdulrahim, who still has a bullet in his right kidney from the funeral shooting, claimed police visited him in hospital and told him: "You're not going to make it, just tell us who did it."

His barrister Stella Gold said Abdulrahim was seeking damages for 72 days of unlawful imprisonment.

The trial, before Justice John Dixon, will continue on Tuesday.