Court rejects Milad Atai appeal over sentence for role in Curtis Cheng murder

A court has rejected an appeal by ISIS recruit Milad Atai over his role in the murder of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng.

Convicted terrorist Milad Atai. Picture: Supplied

A young terrorist who declared he was “happy” with his role in the cold-blooded execution of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng will remain behind bars until at least 2044 after the state’s highest court dismissed the jihadi’s appeal against a “crushing” 38-year jail term.

Milad Atai, 24, was jailed for at least 28 years in 2018 for assisting and encouraging radicalised schoolboy Farhad Jabar, 15, to shoot Mr Cheng in a “random act of homicidal violence” as he left work outside the state police headquarters in Parramatta in 2015.

He also helped Jabar’s older sister, Shadi, reach Islamic State in Syria by connecting her with a terrorist and supplying her with $1000 for flights the day before Mr Cheng’s murder. She later died in a US drone strike.

NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng. Picture: Supplied

In June, the terrorist appealed his convictions on three grounds, including that the judge had disregarded his youth and imposed an “excessive and disproportionate” jail term.

But in a unanimous decision on Monday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed Atai’s appeal, ruling that youth as a “mitigating factor” should be given less weight in cases where the offender participates in the planning and carrying out of “acts of extreme violence.”

“Participation in a terrorist act with the object of murdering an innocent person, which object was achieved, falls within the high range of objective seriousness,” Chief Justice Tom Bathurst said.

“Although the ultimate sentence is undoubtedly severe, it seems to me that having regard to the total criminality involved, the applicant’s lack of remorse associated with his ongoing commitment to Islamic State justified the total sentence of 38 years which was imposed. In my opinion it could not be said to be unreasonable or plainly unjust.”

The Crown referred to evidence given by Atai at the sentencing hearing, including that he was still willing to travel to Syria, supported the Taliban and Al-Nusra Front, a prescribed terrorist organisation, and had withdrawn an apology to the Cheng family.

“The applicant has affirmed his extremist beliefs and has ultimately demonstrated no remorse for the crimes he committed,” Justice Bathurst said. “His prospects of rehabilitation are guarded, if not poor.”

The court rejected Atai’s comparisons to the 20-year term handed to western Sydney terror plotter Sulayman Khalid over a 2014 plan to attack police officers and government buildings.

“The conspiracy extended over six weeks, and whilst some firearms were obtained and there was general discussion concerning targets, no particular target was identified, much less attacked,” Justice Bathurst said.

In the lead up to his sentencing hearing in 2018, Atai sent letters to the Australian Federal Police and the Crown Prosecutor, retracting previous statements of remorse.

Atai wrote he was “happy” with his actions and that he had only made a statement of contrition to Mr Cheng’s widow, Selina, because it was written “in the heat of the moment”.

In 2018, Justice Peter Johnson gave Atai a 10 per cent sentence discount for entering guilty pleas to one count of aiding an offence and two counts of collecting funds for Islamic State.

Atai will be 48 when he becomes eligible for parole in September 2044.