DPP drops murder charge against final suspect in Omega Ruston shooting

Murder charges over the fatal shooting of Gold Coast man Omega Ruston have been dropped against alleged longtime person of interest Paul Younan.

Mr Younan, a former Nomads Outlaw Motorcycle Club member, had his murder charge discontinued in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

The prosecutor told the court the "the crown offers no evidence in respect to that charge of murder".

It had been alleged Mr Ruston was standing next to his car on the side of the Gold Coast Highway at Burleigh Heads when a passenger in another car shot him twice.

Police had previously said they believed the two cars were part of a road rage incident just minutes before the 32-year-old was shot.

Cold case

A full review into the unsolved homicide was launched in 2020 by the Homicide Cold Case Investigation Team and Gold Coast Criminal Investigation Branch.

Authorities launched a fresh appeal a year later, saying there had been a forensic breakthrough in DNA, fingerprint and ballistics evidence, and announcing a $250,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.

In 2022, detectives charged four men in relation to the death, including Mr Younan, who was arrested by highway patrol officers and New South Wales' bikie-busting Raptor Squad while travelling on the M4 at Huntingwood in NSW.

When Mr Younan was granted bail in August 2022, concerns were raised about whether an eyewitness to the shooting would give evidence.

Supreme Court Justice Melanie Hindman in granting bail noted the crown had been asked to produce a statement from an eyewitness who had been given the code name A.

She said the crown had failed to produce the statement.

Justice Hindman said the statement was supposed to have identified the applicant as the shooter in the killing.

But she stated, there was doubt that the statement "in fact existed in written form".

She said: "[This] casts serious doubt on whether witness A is a cooperative witness and is likely to give evidence in accordance with what police have said that witness A can give.

"Counsel for the crown properly and candidly conceded to the court that without the evidence of witness A, the crown case against the applicant on the murder charge is unlikely to be able to proceed."

Justice Hindman also said the crown had been invited to produce the witness statement on a confidential basis without the applicant or his legal representatives being able to view the same, and without waiving public interest immunity in the document.

But she said the crown did not produce the statement.

Bail was granted, with Mr Younan's wife involved in providing a surety of $5.5 million, according to the Justice Hindman's judgment.

Mr Younan has 27 remaining charges of perjury in relation to the case, which are set to heard in the Brisbane Magistrate Court on October 12.

Family say they are disappointed by the outcome

Mr Ruston's brothers, Nicholas and Chris Ruston, told ABC News they were floored at the Director of Public Prosecutions' (DPP) decision to discontinue the charges.

"The DPP has decided that the accused has no charges to stand for … we're deeply saddened," Nicholas Ruston said.

"We're at a complete loss with the criminal justice system … for a state that's promoting being tough on crime and illegal firearm use, it's a real slap in the face for us."

Mr Ruston said the family had hoped the charges would progress to trial.

The family had previously been told that Mr Younan was the prime suspect in the police investigation.

Murder charges against previously co-accused Toni Elbayeh and Hysam Hamdan were dropped last October, while an accessory-after-the-fact charge against Brent Simpson was also discontinued.

'We've lost faith'

Although the family spoke highly of the work cross-border investigation between Queensland and New South Wales Police in the past 17 years, Chris Ruston said he had lost hope they would ever see justice.

"We've never had a chance to grieve properly. Two young children have had to grow up without a father," he said.

"We just hope and pray that someone who does know [what happened], who was there, eventually comes forward."

Nicholas Ruston said there was not a day that goes by where the family were not thinking of Mr Ruston and hoping to get closure.

"The DPP seems to have closed the courtroom doors on this matter and are handballing it on. [The case] could go to the coroner's court," he said.

"We're not feeling as if we're ever going to get closure or a sense of justice. We've lost faith."