Photo of gun used to kill Curtis Cheng revealed in Talal Alameddine’s sentencing hearing
TALAL Alameddine was a typical tradie, but in the months leading up to the murder of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng, the man who supplied the gun began dressing in traditional Islamic clothing and grew a beard “for ISIS”.
NSW
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A PHOTO of the gun used by a 15-year-old terrorist to murder NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng can be shown for the first time.
The .38 calibre Smith & Wesson special British Service Revolver, once used by the NSW Police Force, was placed in the hands of the radicalised Farhad Jabar on the afternoon of October 2, 2015 inside the women’s only prayer room of Parramatta Mosque who then used it to callously kill the father-of-two as he left work at Parramatta Police Headquarters.
The photo was tendered during Talal Alameddine’s sentencing hearing last Friday in the NSW Supreme Court being held at Parramatta.
Alameddine, 25, has pleaded guilty to supplying the six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights to Raban Alou who then gave it to Jabar who was later 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 the loaded revolver.
Last 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”.
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An affidavit submitted by a 25-year-old constable during Alameddine’s sentencing hearing reveals the young gun runner was well known to police and was subject to firearm prohibition order which was served on October 28, 2014. His brother, Rafta Alameddine, was also issued with a FPO on the same date.
In her affidavit the general duties police officer said she had intimate knowledge of Talal Alameddine and his family after spending three months working as an undercover officer in 2015 in the months before Mr Cheng was murdered.
Her first meeting with Talal took place at Stocklands Mall, Merrylands where she said Talal repeatedly hit on her.
“During this interaction I remember him complimenting me on my looks, and (he) was acting very charming towards me,” she said.
“When dealing with Talal Alameddine throughout this time period, he remained charming and would often ask to marry me.
“He would ask me questions about my personal life attempting to gather information about me. This was a regular occurrence with Talal Alameddine when dealing with him.”
Constable Hannah said Alameddine was a typical tradie regularly seen wearing his high-vis work shirt and tracksuit pants while driving around in his Toyota Hilux.
In the months leading up to the terrorist attack in Parramatta though she said Alameddine began dressing in traditional Islamic clothing and claims he told her that he had grown a beard for “ISIS”.
“I had never seen him wear any type of Islamic traditional dress, whether that is a robe or pant. His demeanour was extremely different, as he was no longer his charming self and he did not engage in a conversation with me as he would normally do on previous occasions.
“I said ‘What is that you are wearing Talal?’. As I said this, I pointed to the traditional Islamic dress and Talal Alameddine’s demeanour changed. He appeared to become angry by this comment and answered pointing to his traditional Islamic dress pant.
“He screwed up his face and stared at me with squinted eyes. He fiercely grabbed onto his dress pant. He said ‘You respect this!’
“I said ‘And what’s with the beard? That’s new’”
“He said ‘My beard is for ISIS!’”
Last Friday Mr Cheng’s widow, Selina, read a heart-wrenching victim impact statement to the court describing how her world fell into “total darkness” when four police officers knocked on her door the evening her husband was gunned down.
“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. 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,” Mrs Cheng said.
Talal Alameddine’s sentencing hearing has been adjourned until April before the Justice Johnson.