Anzac Day terror plot teen gets four more years added to his jail sentence
MELBOURNE teen who planned to behead a cop to “make sure the dogs remember this as well as their fallen heroes” just had his sentenced increased.
A MELBOURNE teen convicted over a terror plot to behead a police officer on Anzac Day has been given an extra four years’ jail for his “extremely grave” crimes, following a commonwealth appeal.
Sevdet Ramadan Besim was jailed for 10 years with a seven-and-a-half year minimum in 2016.
On Friday the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and re-sentenced him to 14 years, with a minimum 10 years and six months, saying the original jail term did not match community expectations.
Besim, then 18, planned to drive his car into a police officer performing duties on Anzac Day and then behead him to advance “violent jihad”. He chose Anzac Day for his planned attack to “make sure the dogs remember this as well as their fallen heroes”.
The Hallam teenager pleaded guilty to conspiring to do an act in preparation for or planning a terror act, a charge carrying a maximum term of life imprisonment. The sentencing judge found his youth and immaturity were significant mitigating factors despite there being no direct evidence he had renounced his violent jihad beliefs.
However, Chief Justice Marilyn Warren and Justices Mark Weinberg and Stephen Kaye ruled on Friday that the serious offence meant the effect of any mitigating factors, such as youth and rehabilitation, should be limited. They said general deterrence and community protection should be given substantial, if not primary, weight.
The appeal judges said the offending was extremely grave and the sentence did not match community expectations.
“The fact a police officer was targeted for beheading, that the killing was to take place publicly, and on Anzac Day and the respondent’s willingness to kill other innocent civilians if at all possibly, made this an extremely serious example of a terrorist offence,” they said in their ruling.
The court had previously heard Besim’s family had no idea he had been radicalised.
His defence said he was young, impressionable and now removed from the “dangerous context” where he was communicating online with people he viewed as charismatic guides.