Mostapha Ali: Young man remains in jail, court appeal dismissed

A Riverina abattoir worker says he should have escaped harsh penalties for possessing the sawn-off shotgun police found in his van alongside a drug stash.

A Riverina abattoir worker who “thought guns were cool” will remain in jail until next April after a court dismissed his appeal for a lighter sentence.

Mostapha Ali, 24, appealed to the Supreme Court last week over his April 2020 sentence that saw him jailed for four years over a police bust that netted a sawn-off shotgun, drugs, steroids and other weapons in the state’s west two years ago.

His legal team argued the jail term was too severe and that his sentencing judge thought the firearms offences were more serious than they actually were.

Ali was jailed after admitting he was behind the stash in a van uncovered after a police chase through Young in March 2019.

Mostapha Ali, pictured, initially said the gun was to shoot snakes.

The van had been reported to police after a local saw an occupant and another car swapping number plates.

When officers caught up with the van it was parked with no one inside but after they looked inside they found a toolbox with a loaded shotgun stashed in a pillow alongside a baton, a flick knife and a taser.

They also found more than 100 tablets of oxymetholone – a steroid – and 0.43g of ice.

Police door knocked the house where the car was parked and spoke to Ali’s father, who said the van should be at the family farm and not in town because it wasn’t registered.

The 24-year-old will remain in jail until at least next April when he will be eligible for parole.

Forensics tied a DNA sample on the latch of the toolbox to Ali, who later said he kept the gun to shoot snakes on the farm.

While being cross-examined during his sentencing he also said he “thought (guns) were cool” but had no intention of using the shotgun in a crime.

Ali pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and possessing a loaded firearm last year.

Three Criminal Court of Appeal judges last week dismissed his appeal after concluding Ali’s judge did correctly assess the seriousness of his firearms charge.

He will be eligible for parole in April 2022.

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