Abuzar Sultani and Siar Munshizada sentenced to life in prison

The leader and loyal deputy of a gang of Western Sydney assassins who murdered three crime figures will never see the outside of a prison again.

The leaders of a ruthless gang of Western Sydney assassins who murdered three crime figures have been handed three consecutive life sentences.

Hitmen Abuzar Sultani and Siar Munshizada will never see the outside of a prison after Justice Des Fagan sentenced them to consecutive life sentences in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.

Sultani was the leader of the gang, known as “Murder Crew” or “Murder 13”, that killed three people in meticulously planned executions on suburban streets during a 2016 crime spree.

Munshizada was the loyal deputy to Sultani, a commerce graduate from Macquarie University and one time senior member of the Rebels bikie gang.

Justice Fagan told the court the murders were not related to “gang warfare” and that they were committed as part of a “largely mindless killing spree”.

Siar Munshizada. Picture: Toby Zerna

Abuzar Sultani.

He said the gang was motivated largely through “the depraved gratification” of killing people.

Sultani was the triggerman in all three murders while Munshizada was found to be the getaway driver for two of the murders and a shooter in one.

“Each of the murders was premeditated by both of them and they both planned and prepared for their role,” Justice Fagan told the court.

The gang’s first victim was drug dealer and Rebels bikie gang member Michael “Ruthless”Davey who was shot nine times on his Kingswood driveway on March 30, 2016.

On September 9, 2016, another drug dealer, Mehmet Yilmaz, was shot seven times in front of his horrified fiancee outside a house in St Marys.

The third was the execution of gangster Pasquale Barbaro who was shot ten times outside on Larkhall St, Earlwood on November 14, 2016.

Two other members of the gang were also sentenced.

Joshua Baines will serve a non parole sentence of 27 year in jail for the murder of Barbaro.

While Mirwais Danishyar will serve a minimum of 11 years in jail after being found guilty of being an accessory to Barbaro’s murder.

At the conclusion of the sentencing, Munshizada held up a piece of paper that said “bias dog” after saying “Triple life. Are you serious?”

Sultani did not react when his sentence was announced while Baines said “Who cares?”

Justice Fagan told the court the murders were “highly planned” and “meticulous executions” that were led by Sultani.

The cases were kept secret for three years thanks to blanket non publication orders.

But they are set to continue with appeals already lodged.

Outside court, Munshizada’s lawyers, Ben Jamieson and Melissa Huseyin, confirmed they had lodged appeals against their clients’ convictions.

Danishyar’s layer Jessica Fahmy also said a conviction appeal had been lodged for her client.

It is understood Baines is considering an appeal while Sultani’s position is unknown.

Justice Fagan told the court Sultani’s offending was in the worst case.

“The level of his culpability in each of the murders is so extreme that the community interest in retribution, punishment, community protection and deterrence can only be met through life sentences,” he told the court.

Abuzar Sultani being arrested at Olympic Park in 2016.

“The heinousness of the crimes lies in the offenders’ callous contempt for human life, their premeditation and planning, their objectives of criminal commercial advantage and depraved self gratification,” Justice Fagan told the court.

By the end of the gang’s killing spree, Justice Fagan told the court the gang was commiting murders as “a routine activity”.

“Each of the murders was brazen, in defiance of law and order,” he told the court.

The judge made similar remarks about Munshizada.

Beyond the brutal nature of the murders, one of the startling features was how young each of the offenders were.

Sultani was 27 and Munshizada was 28. Baines and Danishyar were 24 and 23 respectively.

While the evidence did not prove it conclusively, Justice Fagan told the court there was an “irresistable inference” that the Davey and Yilmaz murders were contract killings.

The judge rejected Sultani’s claim that he killed Barbaro in “pre-emptive self defence”.

Instead, he told the court Sultani was motivated by revenge by the belief Barbaro ordered the execution of his friend and mentor, stand over man Joe Antoun, who was shot dead at his Strathfield home in December 2013.

Baines will be eligible for parole in 2054 while Danishyar will be eligible in 2031.