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[2018] NSWCCA 271
Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW)
2018-08-10
Meagher JA, Hoeben CJ, Fagan J, Adamson J
Original judgment source is linked above.
HEADNOTE [This headnote is not to be read as part of the judgment] The respondent entered a plea of guilty to the charge that he "did enter a foreign State, namely the Syrian Arab Republic, with intent to engage in a hostile activity in that foreign State", contrary to Crimes (Foreign Incursions and Recruitment) Act 1978 (Cth), s 6(1)(a), which carried a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. The respondent travelled to Turkey and then into Syria in 2013. He did not engage in "armed hostilities" in that country's civil war or at all. He joined Ahrar al-Sham (AAS), an insurgent group which opposed President Bashar al-Assad's government. That group has never been designated to be a terrorist organisation by the Australian Government. He was photographed posing with automatic weapons with AAS members. He also undertook "training" on two occasions, which involved visiting a rubbish tip to shoot at cans. After spending about three months in Syria, he returned to Turkey. The sentencing judge (Adamson J) imposed a term of imprisonment of 4 years and 9 months, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 6 months. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (the Crown) appealed on the grounds that: (1) her Honour erred in the characterisation of the objective seriousness of the offending as "well below the mid-range of seriousness"; (2) her Honour erred in assessing the respondent's prospects of rehabilitation as "reasonable"; and (3) the sentence was manifestly inadequate. The Crown accepted that the offence to which the respondent pleaded guilty was not a terrorist offence. The Court (Meagher JA, Hoeben CJ at CL, Fagan J) dismissed the appeal: In relation to the objective seriousness of the offending:
THE COURT:
Summary of facts
Ground 1
Ground 2
Ground 4
Conclusion
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R
Biber
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