Inside the mind of a killer: How Abuzar Sultani became ‘desensitised’ to violence

Triple murderer Abuzar Sultani grew up in a safe and supportive home.

His parents came to Australia from Afghanistan in the 1980s, fleeing the Soviet occupation of their homeland and aspiring to a better life. Sultani was born in Australia in 1989.

A lethal crew: Siar Munshizada, Abuzar Sultani, Mirwais Danishyar and Joshua Baines. Credit: Composite

By 2016, he was a feared organised crime figure and gun-for-hire wreaking havoc across Sydney. On Friday, he was sentenced to life in prison for masterminding the murders of Pasquale Barbaro, Mehmet Yilmaz and Michael Davey.

Sentencing Sultani and the inner circle of his sophisticated squad for the heinous “killing spree”, Supreme Court Justice Des Fagan said the offenders showed a “callous contempt for human life” and derived “depraved self gratification” from the murders.

Abuzar Sultani was the ringleader of a crew of killers. Credit:

How did Sultani, who received a commerce degree from Macquarie University in 2014 and was enrolled in an MBA when the killings took place, become a feared gangland figure, ending lives as a commercial service for others and to settle scores?

In two extensive interviews with a psychologist conducted in August and September for the sentencing proceedings, Sultani said the Westmead housing commission where he grew up was rough but his home was a refuge.

“My parents were conservative ... they wanted me to study and be good,” Sultani said.

His parents, who were not wealthy, saw education as “above everything” and made him study instead of going out. He recalled his time at Parramatta High with fondness, despite being suspended a few times for fighting, having to repeat year 12, and feeling like he under-achieved with an ATAR in the 70s.

“I had that bit of adventurism in me and I got in trouble early on,” he said.

While still at school, he was jailed for a botched ATM heist. After leaving prison aged 20, he started working for construction identities George Alex and Joe Antoun in 2012. Antoun, whom Sultani viewed as a mentor, was a notorious standover man who was murdered in 2013.

In 2012, Sultani signed a union deal on behalf of Mr Alex with the CFMEU’s Victorian branch in an agreement arranged by Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto. At the time, Sultani was seen as Mr Alex’s “gofer” and was paid to be listed on business records as a director of Mr Alex’s construction and labour hire companies.

Sultani told the psychologist he saw a lot of extortion and intimidation in that environment.

“In one year three of George’s business partners got killed ... so I ended up joining a gang so that people could have your back ... I felt I needed to be part of something,” he said.

Sultani joined the Rebels bikie gang in about 2012 and would become leader of the Burwood chapter. There his reputation grew, and by 2016 he and his squad had broken away from the Rebels and would be known variously as “the Afghanis”, “Ab’s boys” and “Murder Crew 13”.

Abuzar Sultani, bottom left, Siar Munshizada and Mirwais Danishyar were captured together on CCTV on the night Pasquale Barbaro was murdered. Credit:

He had spurned getting involved in commercial enterprises through the Rebels, viewing the bikie model as a “Ponzi scheme” where people were always seeking a “free lunch”.

“For me it was different ... I like to work and I like to earn,” he said.

He said he needed a “group of boys” around him as protection because of the constant threat of violence and death. “This contributed to me being desensitised to carrying it out,” he said.

“Gun violence was normal,” he said, and using weapons was necessary to survive.

Despite his life in the underworld, Sultani says he has never drunk alcohol, consumed illicit drugs, gambled or had any tattoos. His two siblings are law-abiding professionals.

He pleaded guilty to the three murders in 2019. The motives varied and were in some cases unclear.

Killed in March 2016 in Kingswood, the first victim was Davey, a member of the Penrith chapter of the Rebels. There had been tensions between Sultani’s crew and the Penrith Rebels and Sultani had spoken of a “bad pseudo deal” involving Davey. Justice Fagan ultimately found there may have been a commercial motive in the killing and a personal conflict had not been demonstrated in court.

The second victim was Yilmaz, an associate of the Comanchero bikie gang, gunned down at St Marys in September 2016 in front of his partner. He had been in a dispute with a Lone Wolf bikie, an associate of Sultani, over a $20,000 drug debt.

The final victim was big-noting Mafia identity Pasquale Barbaro in November 2016. Barbaro had been implicated in the murder of Antoun, Sultani’s mentor, and the court found Sultani was motivated by revenge. Days after the murder of Barbaro, Sultani left flowers at Antoun’s grave. Sultani’s right-hand man, Siar Munshizada, told an associate the murder was personal.

Police diagram of Pasquale Barbaro’s bullet wounds. The Italian organised crime figure was gunned down in 2016 by Abuzar Sultani’s crew. Credit:

Sultani had been deeply grateful to Antoun, saying he had helped him when he was depressed and took an interest in him. He said he was “empty inside” after Antoun was murdered.

Sultani has also claimed that Barbaro was threatening to “kill me and chop my head off and drop it off at my parents’ house”.

“I waited for the opportunity to get him before he got me,” Sultani told the psychologist. The argument of anticipatory self-defence was dismissed by Justice Fagan.

Following the murders, Sultani and his crew boasted and laughed about their actions. In a message to underling Joshua Baines sent the week after they killed Barbaro, Sultani said: “Hahahahah wooshk got him few in back of head ... It was the best my brother”.

Now, he claims he feels ashamed about his history of violence and lawlessness. He wants to keep studying in prison to keep himself occupied and see a “light at the end of the tunnel”.

While his victims were involved in the criminal underworld, police said the men and their families deserved sympathy.

William Davey, whose son was an enforcer with the Penrith Rebels, had a damning message for Sultani and Munshizada in a victim impact statement tendered in court. He said the murder had taken away a father, son, partner, brother, friend and cousin

“Your cowardly, aggressive, sickening and violent actions on the 30th of March 2016 has changed the matrix of my family forever,” Mr Davey wrote.

“I take comfort in knowing that these people can never do to another family what they have done to my family and the Barbaro and the Yilmaz family. And that is break them apart and destroy them,” the father said outside court on Friday.

“We understand they are grieving still,” NSW Police Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, homicide squad commander, said on Friday, heralding the Supreme Court result as justice for the families.

Superintendent Doherty said the callous and brazen actions by Sultani’s crew on the streets of Sydney warranted the life sentences.

“Life means life and that’s what they’ve got. And they can sit in their jail cells and contemplate their murderous actions,” he said.

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