How ‘contract crew' victim survived being shot in the head and then buried alive

News.com.au

3 days ago

The moment a man trudged into a Queensland petrol station with a bullet in his brain after digging himself out of his own grave would seem 'far-fetched' if you saw it in a movie.
But it was real; the 23-year-old survivor of a would-be assassination was left to die in the dirt by a 'contract crew', in an incident senior police have described as a 'miracle'.
News.com.au can reveal the unknown man is now serving time in prison, for unrelated matters, despite his good fortune in surviving the attempted murder in July 2024.
Experienced forensic pathologist Professor Johan Duflou does not subscribe to miracles but said the facts as they have been presented tell an unbelievable tale.
'It's absolutely good luck on his part,' he said. 'Or if you like – bad luck on being there in the first instance, good luck in surviving,' he told news.com.au
'I think if it happened in the movies, you'd think it was far-fetched.'
The incident was revealed last week when NSW Police announced its investigation into the contract crew believed to be behind his shooting, the kidnapping of another man and the murder of father Rich Choup within a six-day period of 'carnage' in July 2024.
All three incidents are suspected to be linked to a Victorian drug trafficking syndicate, police said, and sources have told news.com.au the crew was enlisted after a methamphetamine haul went missing from a stash house in Melbourne.
Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi, head of NSW Police's Homicide Squad, told a press conference last week if 'he was a betting man' he would say 'missing drugs or missing money' led to the incidents.
The motive for the 23-year-old man's shooting 'remains unclear at the moment', he said, adding that he had not fully cooperated with the strike force investigation.
Professor Roger Byard from the University of Adelaide said there was a 'common misconception' that shots to the head were instantly fatal.
'There were soldiers in war who discovered they were shot in the head when they took their helmet off and saw a hole in it,' he said.
'People have actually shot off a large part of their brain with shotguns.
'But if you don't damage blood vessels or vital structures like the brain stem … that controls breathing and heart rate, then you can survive for quite a long time.'
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'Not inevitable'
It remains unclear exactly where the bullet or bullet fragments impacted the man's brain, which experts said was a key factor.
Professors Byard and Duflou both cited the famous example of American rail worker Phineas P. Gage, who survived for 12 years after a large iron rod was blasted through his frontal lobe in 1848.
Another more recent example of surviving a gunshot wound to the head comes from Australia's gangland and the alleged attempted murder of bikie boss Tarek Zahed at a Sydney gym in 2022.
Zahed was shot through the eye but lived, although court records suggest he did not sustain injuries to his brain.
'It's something that is well recognised in forensics,' Professor Byard said.
Professor Duflou said the calibre of ammunition used and the exact point of impact could be factors in the chances of survival.
'The other thing is what type of bullet was it, and what type of gun was it?' he said.
'Especially if it's either old ammunition or homemade type ammunition.
'If it goes into the frontal lobe, you can survive that type of situation.
'It's certainly not inevitable that you would survive by any stretch of the imagination, but you have a chance of survival.'
Top neurosurgeon Professor Lindy Jeffree said the odds were stacked against patients who had been shot in the head.
'More than half of people with gunshot wounds to the head will die before they reach hospital and about half of the rest will die in hospital,' she told news.com.au.
'Of survivors, half are very severely disabled. Less than 10% can live a normal life.'
Professor Jeffree, who works as the director of neurosurgery at Alfred Health, said a bullet that crossed through multiple lobes of the brain was 'highly likely to cause coma and death'.
'I'm gonna die'
Detective Superintendent Doueihi said last week the 23-year-old man was 'lured' across the border into Queensland unaware of his companions' alleged 'ulterior motives'.
On July 21 he entered a service station on Tamborine St, Jimboomba – south of Brisbane – covered in dirt and a visible bullet wound to his head.
A staff member told 9News at the time the man with 'severe injuries' to his face had first asked her to call him a taxi.
'He said 'No police, no ambulance, just a taxi',' she said.
After he went into the bathroom for a short period, she said the man changed his mind about the ambulance: 'He kept repeating 'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die'.
'I didn't know who was following him. I didn't know if they were going to come hurt us.'
He collapsed before being taken to hospital where it was established he had been shot through the eye and had a bullet lodged in his brain.
'For someone to survive that is a miracle,' Detective Superintendent Doueihi said on Monday.