Pair jailed six years for kidnapping, assault

THEY used a sledgehammer to smash through two security doors and three locks to break into Klaudine Fajloun's flat, then kidnapped her, held her hostage and assaulted her for nearly nine hours in a deserted house in Guildford, in Sydney's west.

A jury found her former husband Raad Fajloun and his younger brother Mikel guilty of those crimes and yesterday in the District Court, after many delays, they were each sentenced to a non-parole period of six years. Neither had shown any significant remorse for the violent acts that had left Mrs Fajloun a prisoner in her own house, living with extreme fear, nightmares, depression and grief, Justice Richard Cogswell found.

"She thought she was going to die, she thought her husband was going to kill her and that she would not see her children again."

The judge found the break and enter, kidnapping and assault had been premeditated, and said the evidence given by numerous witnesses and by Mrs Fajloun was reliable and believable. Since the violent events of November 12, 2005, Mrs Fajloun has become estranged from her sons, who do not believe their father capable of such harm, and has endured relentless psychological trauma.

The judge ordered an apprehended violence order on Raad Fajloun to apply from his release until November 18, 2019.