diff --git a/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/event.rs b/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/event.rs
index f7eba482ea2..777e5085f62 100644
--- a/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/event.rs
+++ b/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/event.rs
@@ -162,7 +162,12 @@ pub fn create_and_queue(
     work: EventSig,
 ) -> CLResult<()> {
     let e = Event::new(&q, cmd_type, deps, work);
-    cl_event::leak_ref(event, &e);
+    if !event.is_null() {
+        // SAFETY: we check for null and valid API use is to pass in a valid pointer
+        unsafe {
+            event.write(cl_event::from_arc(Arc::clone(&e)));
+        }
+    }
     q.queue(e);
     if block {
         q.flush(true)?;
diff --git a/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/icd.rs b/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/icd.rs
index 6af24a4b9b7..e8a37ce600a 100644
--- a/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/icd.rs
+++ b/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl/api/icd.rs
@@ -234,17 +234,6 @@ pub trait ReferenceCountedAPIPointer<T, const ERR: i32> {
     // implement that as part of the macro where we know the real type.
     fn from_ptr(ptr: *const T) -> Self;
 
-    fn leak_ref(ptr: *mut Self, r: &std::sync::Arc<T>)
-    where
-        Self: Sized,
-    {
-        if !ptr.is_null() {
-            unsafe {
-                ptr.write(Self::from_arc(r.clone()));
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     fn get_ref(&self) -> CLResult<&T> {
         unsafe { Ok(self.get_ptr()?.as_ref().unwrap()) }
     }