09-05-2025
Coroner unable to determine Ranghe Mohamed Adbi's motive for murdering Brisbane couple
A coroner has been unable to determine the "true motive" of a man who was becoming "more and more radicalised" when he killed an elderly Brisbane couple.
Raghe Mohamed Abdi was shot dead by police on the Logan Motorway at Drewvale after he rushed at them with a knife while yelling "Allahu Akbar" in December 2020.
Several hours after his death, the bodies of 87-year-old Maurice Antill and his wife, 86-year-old Zoe Antill, were found in the backyard of their Parkinson home.
Investigators promptly linked their stabbing deaths the night before the 22-year-old rushed at police and declared the two incidents a "terrorism event".
At an inquest held in 2023, the Coroners Court in Brisbane heard Mr Abdi was on bail at the time for minor Commonwealth offences related to an investigation into whether he was preparing to be involved in a foreign incursion.
The inquest heard he was being monitored by police and counter terrorism officers.
A terrorism expert gave evidence that they believed Mr Abdi did hold extremist views at the time but there was little evidence to suggest the stabbings had "anything to do with Islamic State ideology".
In her written findings published this week, Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher made a similar determination.
She said although there was evidence put before her that Mr Abdi had a "general support for ISIS" and expressed intention to wage jihad overseas, he gave "no indication" to anyone of what he would do.
"Neither his family … nor the various officers who had been engaging with him, had any idea Raghe harboured any intention to take the action that he did," she said.
Deputy State Coroner Gallagher said this was a "very unusual set of circumstances" and many questions will "never be answered".
"Ultimately and tragically, no one will ever know Raghe's true motivation, and there can be no firm answers for the Antills or for Raghe's family in respect of this issue," she said.
During the inquest, the court heard Mr Abdi had removed a GPS ankle tracker before he killed Mr and Mrs Antill and there was a delay in an alert being sent to authorities flagging this.
Deputy State Coroner Gallagher said this failure was unsatisfactory and due to "human error", particularly because Mr Adbi was able to "cause such harm while unmonitored."
However, she determined even if authorities had been notified at the time, it was unlikely this would have prevented the couple's deaths.
"By the time Raghe had removed his [electronic monitoring device], he had already walked away from his family into bushland, and was clearly trying to avoid detection," she said.
"I am satisfied that there is nothing more that could reasonably have been done by law enforcement agencies."
It was determined that the police response to Mr Abdi and their use of lethal force was appropriate, as were the investigations before and after the deaths.
"The [Queensland Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce] made every effort while Raghe was alive to divert him from a trajectory in which he was becoming more and more radicalised," she said.
"Various law enforcement agencies took appropriate and extensive steps to determine exactly what had happened, and to ensure public safety in the aftermath of these events."
