Sydney businessman John Ibrahim was this week revealed to be the intended target of an alleged would-be assassination’s near his eastern suburbs mansion.
The Kings Cross identity, who made his fortune running nightclubs, was identified as the target of the July 25 attempted hit near his Dover Heights mansion after a court secrecy order was lifted on Thursday.
Two men, Yousif Zrayka and Siaosi Maeakafa Tupoulahi, were arrested near the scene following a scuffle with police and had allegedly pointed a loaded gun at a neighbour they mistook for Ibrahim. They have been charged with conspiracy to murder and firearms offences.
Ibrahim, 54, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, has lived in the luxury clifftop mansion on the exclusive waterfront street for more than three decades.
His longtime fiancée Sarah Budge and their infant son Elvis, two, are both believed to live with Ibrahim in the sprawling home, which he bought for $1.2million in 1997.
The couple were first linked in 2013 after meeting when John bought the Potts Point building where she ran a restaurant Crane Bar, which closed down during Covid.
But things have not always been rosy between the couple.
They started dating not long after and Budge, 34, revealed details of their very tumultuous relationship and unique living arrangements during a previous court case.
During Budge’s gun possession trial in 2019, Ibrahim’s partner said their romance had been ‘up and down’ and claimed she had been prevented from moving in with him because he wanted his ‘privacy‘.
Up until recent years, Budge lived separately in a Leichhardt flat, in Sydney’s inner west, and they are believed to have finally moved in together in 2021 when she was pregnant with their first child.
Despite regularly posting photos from the balcony of Ibrahim’s sprawling mansion, the NSW District Court heard that Budge had been prevented from moving in.
‘He’s quite set in his ways and he likes his space and his privacy,’ she said during the 2019 trial.
The court also heard Ibrahim had only been to Budge’s apartment twice during their six-year relationship and on one occasion, allegedly told her she got ‘the small, s***ty room’.
Their bombshell private text messages were also read out during the trial and detailed how Budge had allegedly complained Ibrahim wasn’t making time for her.
On July 16, 2017, Budge asked Ibrahim – who she had saved in her phone as ‘Sexy John’ – to call her as she ‘wanted to feel close’ to him, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Just days later on July 21, Budge allegedly then texted Ibrahim to complain that she had been left ‘in tears’ after he hadn’t made an effort to see her.
She said: ‘Now I won’t get to see you before you go away. You want me working, that means I’m only free on the weekend… I’m never going to see you unless you actually start planning ahead and being fair. At home now in tears… surely you can see I don’t want to be alone.’
When she hadn’t got a reply a week later, she then sent him another text asking why he wasn’t responding to previous messages.
‘Not answering means I don’t want to talk to you,’ Ibrahim had replied to Budge in an exchange that came little more than a week before her arrest on August 8, 2017.
In further messages on August 6 – just 48 hours before police raided her Double Bay unit and arrested her – Budge sent him a follow up message.
‘Thanks for ditching and not even answering to speak to me. Awesome, when I just told you mum was back in hospital and you know the type of week I’m about to have and I didn’t sleep last night. Lucky I’m not weak.’
Ibrahim responded: ‘Busy,’ before Budge messaged him a day later saying: ‘Hello, remember me?’
In other texts, Budge expressed her love for the famed nightclub figure and shared her confidence that he would ‘come back’ to their relationship.
‘I love you John, even though you are busy, mentally not here. You will come back.’
Despite their tumultuous relationship, Budge and Ibrahim have continued their relationship and welcomed their son Elvis in 2021 and are now believed to live together.
Following the 2019 gun possession trial, Budge was acquitted of possessing an unlicensed 9mm Glock 26 pistol.
Budge was charged after police found the weapon in the bedroom of her Double Bay apartment in August 2017 during raids on the homes of Ibrahim family members and associates.
Ibrahim was not linked to the gun charge or any offences committed by his relatives, which led to the raids.
Budge was found not guilty of three firearm charges after a jury determined prosecutors could not prove she knew the weapon was in her apartment.
It marked a very difficult year for Budge after her mother Leone also died of cancer in March 2019, with her father Mark supporting her through her court case.
After her mother’s death following a two-year cancer battle, Budge paid tribute on social media in the days that followed and she was supported by Ibrahim at her mother’s funeral.
‘She was an incredibly special person that brought so much warmth and brightness to everyone around her,’ Budge wrote alongside a selection of family photographs.
‘So strong, she never complained as she fought a very tough battle. She loved her family, friends and our fur babies (maybe a little more than people as we often joke).
‘We are so glad that we got to be by your side and spend as much time as we could with you, but we are all in shock [at] how fast it went.’
Budge was raised by her parents Gladesville, in Sydney’s northern suburbs, along with her brother Jack, who works in construction.
Jack has previously posted multiple photos with Ibrahim and Budge on Facebook over the years, often at bars and eateries across Sydney.
Budge studied to be a make-up artist and worked part-time in nightclubs in the city’s CBD before setting up Crane Bar in Kings Cross in December 2012.
Budge has also worked as a model, featuring in TV campaigns for Virgin Australia as well as starring in photoshoots for lingerie and swimwear brands.
In 2020, Budge was left disappointed when she was left unable to reopen Crane Bar following the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Sarah’s a bit heartbroken,’ a friend said at the time. ‘She’s disheartened at the moment.’
Restrictions caused by the Covid crisis including limits on patron numbers forced Budge’s painful decision to permanently close the doors.
‘Unfortunately, Crane is another casualty of corona,’ the source went on. ‘Crane will be one of many to come. She’s going to put her focus on other things.’
In 2012, Crane Bar – known for its Japanese fusion food – opened to much fanfare with a lavish event attended by onetime X Factor host Luke Jacobz and Home and Away star Dan Ewing.
It originally had a coveted 24-hour licence and could cater for late-night corporate and social functions for up to 350 guests.
Laws introduced in 2014 to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence in Kings Cross meant 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks, and Covid then proved to be the last straw.
Ibrahim once operated a string of night clubs in the Cross but his main commercial interests in the former party precinct are now in real estate.
As well as sharing a son Elvis with Budge, Ibrahim also has an adult son, Daniel, who is in his 30s, from a past relationship.
