Jessika Power, best known for appearing on Married at First Sight (MAFS) 2019, has spoken for the first time since the death of her ex-boyfriend, Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim, a notorious gangland figure in Melbourne’s underworld.
Sam was gunned down in a carpark outside the Quest Hotel in Preston on Tuesday, 28 January, around 10am. The Mongol bikie turned boxer had survived multiple assassination attempts before his life was cut short.
Here’s what Jessika had to say about it all.
“It’s been really hard to hear”
Speaking to Daily Mail, Jessika shed tears as she spoke about Sam’s death.
“It’s been really, really hard to hear,” she told the news outlet.
Though Jessika and Sam had split up back in 2019, Jessika shared that Sam had been there for her long after their breakup, continuing to support her right up until a few months ago.
“We ended on really good terms,” she said. “He’s always been supportive to me if I needed him.”
Jessika also expressed her sympathies for Sam’s wife and child.
“She’s going to grow up without a dad, and it’s such a toxic world to be in that underworld thing.
“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,” she continued.
Despite Sam’s connections to murders and gang-related crimes, which have made him one of the more notorious figures in Melbourne’s underworld, Jessika still felt compelled to defend his character.
“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,” she continued.
“He was a dad, he was a husband, he’s someone’s son and he’s just a really good guy,” she added.
Jessika also revealed that her brother, Rhyce Power, was “devastated” by the news of Sam’s death.
“He’s been a good friend to my brother for years as well,” Jessika said, adding, “This is just so fucking sad.”
Jessika and Sam’s short-lived romance
Jessika and Sam began their relationship after he was released from prison in 2019, following his three-year jail sentence for causing the death of 88-year-old Muriel Hulett in a high-speed car crash.
Sam, behind the wheel of a Ferrari Spider, lost control while driving at 110 kilometers per hour on the wrong side of the road in a 60 kilometers per hour zone. Muriel died eight days later from injuries sustained in the collision.
The pair met through mutual friends, but Sam’s connection to the gangland underworld was ultimately one of the reasons the MAFS star decided to end things.
“I just feel like that underworld thing at the minute in Melbourne and Sydney is just getting out of hand,” Jessika explained to the Daily Mail.
“It was part of the reason why I ended up leaving because I just didn’t want to be around that.”
