Mohammed Ibrahim heard voices before stabbing spree across Melbourne’s east, coronial inquest hears

It was only later, when the search for answers had begun, that detectives uncovered the security footage of the killer buying an energy drink just minutes after brutally knifing two women who were about to go to bed.

WARNING: This story contains content some readers may find distressing.

The vision, captured on CCTV in March last year, shows Mohammed Ibrahim in a pink polo shirt casually walking into a store in Hawthorn, Melbourne, and picking up a bottle of water before doubling back for an energy drink as well.

The cashier, not knowing the bespectacled man behind the counter had just knifed two women, waits patiently as the 34-year-old fishes inside his wallet to pay for the drinks.

Ibrahim, a Roxburgh Park man, had been hearing voices before he went on his rampage, the Coroners Court of Victoria heard today.

Coroner Leveasque Peterson is investigating Ibrahim’s death by police shooting and the deaths of two of his victims.

“The perpetrator appears calm,” Lindsay Spence, the lawyer assisting the coroner, told the court.

Detective Senior Sergeant Pixie Fuhrmeister, the Victoria Police officer who is also helping the coroner, agreed.

“[He] certainly doesn’t appear to have any blood on him,” she said, under cross-examination.

Ibrahim’s clean shirt and calm demeanour belie the brutality of his attack just half an hour earlier.

Shortly after 11:00pm on March 11 last year, Sally-Anne Wills was sitting in the passenger seat of a car with her partner, Ashlee Gunstone, on Coppin Grove in Hawthorn.

Ms Gunstone had just picked up Ms Wills, who had been in a car crash, and they were about to head inside and go to bed.

“When she opened the car door, [Ibrahim] was just standing there,” Ms Gunstone said in a witness statement.

“He was just leering into the car and said, ‘I want sex.'”

The two women had never met Ibrahim before.

Ms Gunstone said she and Ms Wills, who was affectionately known as Sals, sat stunned for a moment before Ibrahim pulled out a knife.

“He just started stabbing Sals in the chest and neck,” she said in the statement, which was read to the court.

“I was screaming and so was Sals.”

Ms Gunstone, who was in the driver’s seat, then threw herself over her partner.

“I leaned over Sals and put my body over her to try and protect her,” she said.

“He started stabbing me in my neck and my back,” she said.

As Ibrahim attacked the women, Ms Gunstone leaned on the horn of her car which scared him away.

Ms Wills, 30, died at the scene.

Ms Gunstone was taken to hospital with deep cuts to her neck and she is still recovering from the attack.

Today, Ms Gunstone told the coroner she still grappled with what happened on the night her partner was killed.

“The evil we faced that night is a horror I still cannot comprehend,” she said.

“I know there may never be an answer for why Sals is not here today.”

She also paid tribute to the first responders on the scene, including emergency service workers and her neighbours.

“I know you did everything you could … Your bravery and compassion, I will forever hold in my heart,” she said.

Police say Ibrahim was silent before being shot

Earlier that same evening, Ibrahim attacked protective services officer Joshua Davies at Jolimont Railway Station.

After asking for directions, he stabbed his victim in the face and arm. He then fled the scene.

“I felt blood running down my neck,” Mr Davies said.

“He showed no signs he was about to stab me.”

Ibrahim’s third and final attack that night was on Christopher Polden, who was staying at a serviced apartment in Kew while his flat was being renovated.

The court was played security footage of Mr Polden, who was known for his HIV advocacy work, being stabbed in the stomach by Ibrahim about an hour after he attacked the two women.

The 59-year-old was found by tactical officers lying near a tram stop.

The court heard police eventually cornered Ibrahim and urged him to put down his weapon.

“I said, ‘Police, don’t move,'” one officer said in a statement read to the court.

“He looked stunned and seemed to pause. He didn’t say a thing.”

The court was played footage of police yelling at Ibrahim, who was allegedly brandishing the knife at officers, before they opened fire and killed him.

No indication killer followed extremist ideology

As part of the inquest, Coroner Peterson is investigating why Ibrahim went on his rampage, whether there were any warning signs and if the use of lethal force was justified.

Today she heard Ibrahim had been grappling with severe depression and was dealing with trauma from the Iraq War.

He had been referred to a psychiatrist, was hearing voices and went to police stations on at least five occasions to report that members of the Islamic State group were paying people from Mildura to assassinate him.

Senior Sergeant Fuhrmeister today dispelled any suggestion that Ibrahim’s rampage was motivated by terror.

“There is no such indication that Ibrahim adhered to an extremist ideology,” the detective said.

“The primary driver of his violence was related to his mental state.”

Mr Spence, the lawyer assisting the coroner, also told the court there was no evidence the incident was linked to terrorism.

“Interpol, ASIO, the AFP … had no known holdings in respect of the perpetrator,” Mr Spence said.

He also said the motives for Ibrahim’s rampage remained unclear, but he had no formal mental health diagnosis.

“Ultimately, no warning flags were missed … the perpetrator’s actions were unforeseeable,” Mr Spence said.

He told the coroner the use of lethal force was justified to protect the public.

The hearing continues.