Annastacia Palaszczuk’s surgeon partner is living a seemingly solitary life in suburban Brisbane after the luxury beachside unit he shared with the former Queensland premier was declared a crime scene over an alleged rape.
Detectives, who last week charged Reza Adib with three counts of rape, two counts of deprivation of liberty and one count of sexual assault involving a woman aged in her 30s, have seized security camera footage from inside and outside the Gold Coast apartment block.
The 65-year-old obesity surgeon has moved to his $6.5m-plus mansion in Indooroopilly in Brisbane’s leafy inner west, where he is keeping up a daily fitness regimen.
Dressed in Lycra sportswear, he was photographed on Wednesday returning to the riverfront property from a bike ride, engaged in an animated phone conversation as he let himself in.
Through his lawyers, Dr Adib has said he was shocked by the allegations levelled against him and would vigorously defend the charges.
Ms Palaszczuk, meanwhile, has cancelled two appearances to promote her newly released memoir in which she lavishes praise on him as a “beautiful, loving partner”.
It is not known whether she will return to the Gold Coast apartment that Dr Adib purchased off the plan for $4.1m in 2020 through his private company.
Ms Palaszczuk has made no public comment about the case.
They began dating in 2021, her sixth year as premier, and continued to make a splash together on the social scene after she quit politics in December 2023 – 10 months out from the state election at which the three-term Labor government was defeated.
The Australian understands that detectives from the Gold Coast Criminal Investigation Branch have now obtained CCTV from inside the Norfolk building at Burleigh Heads, which was raided by detectives on Thursday last week, and also from external sources.
Police allege all six of the alleged criminal offences occurred at the apartment on the same day, March 30. The address is one of the most sought after on the glitter strip, opposite the fashionable Rick Shores restaurant where the couple were often dining.
Dr Adib will appear at the Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday next week.
According to medical registration rules, he must notify regulators – the Office of the Health Ombudsman in Queensland and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency – within seven days of being criminally charged with an offence that potentially carries more than 12 months’ jail.