Curtis Cheng: Milad Atai appeals sentence over shooting killing
IS supporter Milad Atai laughed when he was given 38 years for his part in the execution of NSW Police’s Curtis Cheng and said he welcomed his punishment as he would be rewarded in the next life. But two years on the 24-year-old is now appealing his prison term, describing it as ‘excessive’.
Parramatta
Don't miss out on the headlines from Parramatta . Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Mert Ney: Alleged Michaela Dunn killer set for psychiatric test
- Jackson Travers: Bra Boy appeals violent Redfern attack
A young terrorist who infamously declared he was “happy” with his role in the cold-blooded murder of police analyst Curtis Cheng now wants his prison term cut short.
Milad Atai was handed a 38-year sentence in November 2018 after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting Mr Cheng’s killer, 15-year-old Farhad Mohammad, and two counts of funding Islamic State.
Atai confessed to helping to obtain the gun used to shoot Mr Cheng in the head outside NSW Police headquarters in Parramatta on October 2, 2015, and callously laughed as he was jailed.
Now 24, with a beard and shoulder-length hair, he on Tuesday appeared before the Court of Criminal Appeal from Goulburn’s maximum security prison – looking a far cry from the baby-faced teen arrested in 2016.
His lawyer Greg James said Atai’s sentence was “dramatically greater” than those imposed on others for similar terrorist offences in NSW, including Sulayman Khalid who recently saw his prison time reduced to 15 years non-parole for plotting an attack on public officials that did not take place.
Mr James called the sentence “excessive and disproportionate” when compared to the 44-year term for co-accused Raban Alou, who sourced the Smith and Wesson gun for Mohammad.
“I appreciate we are talking about degrees of evil … but we are required to make that distinction,” Mr James said.
He also argued that not enough consideration was given to his client’s age, claiming Justice Peter Johnson handed down a “crushing sentence” for someone so young.
Atai was sentenced to 30 years for the aiding and abetting charge, with an extra eight years of accumulation for the two charges of funding IS.
The court heard he provided Mohammad’s sister Shadi $1000 to fly to the Middle East the day before Mr Cheng’s murder, and later had conversations with an undercover cop in which he pledged his allegiance to Islamic State and discussed plans to supply the terrorist organisation with cash.
Crown prosecutor Paul Mcguire told the court age was not relevant in Atai’s case and that his sentence could not be compared to that of Khalid as no terrorist act eventuated from his conspiracy.
Mr McGuire said there had been a “significant difference” in the sentences of Atai and Alou, whose jail term for just the one offence had a 51-year starting point.
During his sentence hearings in 2018 the Supreme Court heard Atai believed Mohammad was a martyr and was recorded saying Mr Cheng “got what he deserved”.
He welcomed his punishment, stating he would be rewarded in the next life, and in handwritten letters to the Crown declared “I’m not sorry … nor I’m (sic) regretful for my action”.
Atai was not present when Alou obtained the gun for Mohammad, but stated he would have been had he not been at work.
The panel on Tuesday reserved its decision on the appeal.