Curtis Cheng’s widow reads victim impact statement: ‘I felt total darkness completely envelop me’
THE widow of murdered police accountant Curtis Cheng, who was gunned down by a 15-year-old terrorist, said her world fell into “total darkness” when four police officers knocked on her door, a court has heard.
NSW
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THE widow of murdered police accountant Curtis Cheng, who was gunned down by a 15-year-old terrorist, said her world fell into “total darkness” when four police officers knocked on her door, a court has heard.
Selina Cheng read a heart wrenching victim impact statement to the NSW Supreme Court today describing the moment she learnt her husband had been killed.
“The day my beloved husband was murdered in cold blood outside the NSW Police Headquarters was the longest and most painful day of my life,” Mrs Cheng said.
“When I heard that there had been a shooting outside where Curtis worked, I prayed it was not him. I prayed for him to come home safely.
“That evening as I was waiting for him, the doorbell rang. Four people stood at the door and told me they were from the police. I looked at their serious faces, and only managed to utter, ‘Are you tell me…?’
“One man looked me in the eyes and nodded, and I dropped to my knees and wept. I felt total darkness completely envelop me. I was completely devastated, and all sense of security and hope was lost. Countless tears poured as I soaked the clothes of a few dear friends.
“I am deeply hurt and am utterly repulsed by those who had any part in Curtis’ senseless murder. He was harmless. He was a good man. The gentlest of souls. A loving husband and father.
“I have lost the dearest one who walked with me in my life for over thirty years. Now, I can only visit his resting place.”
Mrs Cheng read the statement out during Talal Alameddine’s sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court being held at Parramatta.
Alameddine, 25, has pleaded guilty to supplying a revolver Raban Alou which was later used by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar to shoot dead the father-of-two as he left work at Parramatta Police Headquarters on October 2, 2015. Jabar was killed in an exchange of gunfire.
The court heard Alameddine met with Alou at three different locations throughout western Sydney in the hours before the terrorist attack in order to supply him with a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 revolver.
Some time between 1.19pm and 2.55pm on October 2 Alameddine handed over the gun to Alou who then met with the radicalised teenager Jabar inside the women’s only prayer rooms at the Parramatta Mosque.
During submissions Crown barrister Paul McGuire SC said the various meetings — one at Jones Park in Mays Hill, a second at Warwick Rd, Merrylands near Alou’s home and finally in the carpark of Merrylands Oval — were designed to avoid police detection.
On Thursday Alou, who helped mastermind the evil plot, was jailed for up to 44 years for his role in supplying the gun with Justice Peter Johnson describing Alou a being “devoid of basic humanity”.
As Alou was taken away from the court he gave a IS one-finger salute and told the court: “I’m going to paradise, you’re going to hell ... this is just the beginning for enemies of Islam.”
Alou is the first person sentenced under the tough new counter-terrorism laws for an act of terrorism which resulted in a death and will spend at least 33 years in jail before he is eligible for parole.
Alameddine’s sentencing hearing was adjourned until April before the Justice Johnson.