Sentences reduced for Sydney gang rapists

The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal has upheld the convictions of gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, at the same time reducing their jail sentences.

A three-judge panel of the court upheld the convictions in relation to the rape of a teenager at Greenacre in 2000.

The 16-year-old was raped at gunpoint with 14 men present.

Lawyers for Bilal Skaf have had his minimum 18-year jail sentence for that crime reduced by two years and Mohammed Skaf's minimum 15-year sentence reduced by 18 months.

In reducing the sentences, the court referred to the strict conditions of the brothers' custody limiting their access to work, education and religious observations.

Lawyers for the brothers argued there was excessive publicity surrounding the case.

Bilal Skaf was serving a sentence of 38 years after being convicted of other rapes and Mohammed Skaf was serving 26 years.

Bilal Skaf has been tried three times and Mohammed Skaf twice.

Rapist's jail time increased on appeal

A rapist who terrorised women in Melbourne's northern suburbs will serve an extra two years in jail following an appeal by Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions.

Sedat Avci, 22, pleaded guilty in the County Court last year to 13 charges, including seven of rape, following attacks on six women between April and August 2005.

Victoria's Court of Appeal today ruled that a minimum jail term of nine years imposed on Avci was manifestly inadequate and should be increased to 11 years.

Appeal court president Justice Chris Maxwell said: "This was a horrific set of crimes. The terror, pain and humiliation which the victims experienced is quite appalling, the long-term damage immeasurable."

Justice Maxwell said Avci's offending became progressively worse, and there was every reason to assume it would have continued had he not been caught.

"(There) was a persistent attitude on Avci's part that he was entitled to disregard entirely the rights of any woman he might select for his purposes," he said.

Justice Maxwell stressed the importance of courts "continuing to send the clearest possible message to the community that preying on innocent females, whether in their homes or on the streets, will be treated as offending of the utmost seriousness".

Justices Maxwell, Peter Buchanan and Robert Redlich re-imposed Avci's original maximum jail term of 16 years.

Convicted paedophile's jail time cut

A 31-year-old man who sexually abused his partner's six-year-old son has had his jail term reduced.

The man - who cannot be named - pleaded guilty in the District Court in Brisbane to eight offences against the boy committed in June last year while the child's mother was at work.

He was jailed for four years with a parole eligibility date after one year.

In imposing sentence the primary judge said the conduct was "heinous, despicable, contemptible" and "nauseating" and described the contents of the victim impact statement as disturbing.

The Court of Appeal today allowed the man's appeal against his sentence and reduced his jail term to two years to be suspended after eight months because the man had confessed his actions, had shown remorse and pleaded guilty.

Rockhampton murderer loses appeal bid

A university student found guilty of murdering a Rockhampton woman has lost his bid to appeal his conviction in the High Court.

Beau Ernest Hinschen was last year jailed for life for the murder of Suzanne Standing at her home in August 2005.

She was stabbed and had her face shattered and the trial judge described the killing as vicious and frenzied.

Hinschen claimed that Ms Standing's former partner, Scott Jobling, forced him at gunpoint to kill the 30-year-old woman.

Hinschen's lawyers today sought leave to appeal their client's conviction in the High Court, arguing the trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury about his previous good character.

But the High Court refused the application, concluding that it was not convinced that an error occurred or that there was a miscarriage of justice.

Child porn man wants sentence cut

A Hobart man caught with 145,000 child pornography images wants his five-and-a-half year sentence reduced.

Michael John Coulbourn was tracked by the FBI during a global investigation into online child exploitation.

The 49-year-old was jailed last August after pleading guilty to possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to access it.

When police searched the former public servant's Moonah home last year, they found pornography involving children as young as six months.

The prosecution described the crime as one of the worst of its kind Tasmania has seen.

The Hobart Criminal Court heard Coulbourn was suspended from his job with the Tasmanian public service after his arrest and has since resigned.

He is now appealing against his jail sentence, on the grounds that it is excessive.

Lindstrom's murder plot sentence extended

Jail time extended: Charlotte Lindstrom

Swedish model Charlotte Lindstrom's jail sentence for plotting the murder of two witnesses in a drug trial has been extended by at least another year.

Lindstrom met an undercover police officer on the steps of Sydney's Town Hall in May last year and confirmed she wanted the men in a cemetery.

The 23-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of two years' jail in March for soliciting a hitman to kill the witnesses, who were due to give evidence against her 44-year-old then boyfriend.

The maximum penalty for the offence is 25 years but the model's sentence was heavily discounted due to an early guilty plea and her cooperation with police.

Lindstrom was sentenced to a maximum three years and 10 months in jail, but would have been eligible for release on parole next May.

The sentencing judge said Lindstrom's partner "callously manipulated" her misplaced loyalty for him and she had nothing to gain personally from the crime.

During sentencing, he described Lindstrom as "vulnerable" and "impressionable", and said she was "a cog in a criminal machine" who was driven by fear and manipulation.

The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed against the leniency of the sentence.

A three-judge panel at the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal has just handed down a judgement that will see Lindstrom spend at least another year behind bars.

Speed-camera attacker loses appeal

A man who attacked a speed camera operator's car in Melbourne's north last year has lost his appeal over a nine month jail term.

36-year-old Roger Kanjir was driving while disqualified, when a speed camera clocked him at 142 kilometres per hour, in a 100 zone at Mickleham.

Kanjir attacked the speed camera operator's car with a wheel brace.

He also threatened to kill the camera operator and his family.

Kanjir today appealed against his sentence of nine months jail, for this and other offences.

County Court Judge Christine Thornton upheld his original sentence, but ordered that parts could be served concurrently, reducing the total sentence to eight months.

She also ordered him to pay more than $30,000 in damages.

Plea to spare drug traffickers

THE Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, has urged Vietnam to spare two Australians convicted of drug trafficking from execution by firing squad.

Mr Smith said during a visit that he was assured by the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, that the Government was giving "careful and proper" consideration to appeals for clemency made by the two.

Both are Australian citizens of Vietnamese origin, sentenced to die for drug trafficking.

"I've made the point that Australia supports those bids of clemency," Mr Smith said.

The names of the two Australians were not available.

At least four Vietnamese-Australians convicted of drug trafficking have had their death sentences commuted after the Australian Government asked that they not be executed.

Vietnam has not executed any Australians for drug offences.

Several Australians of Vietnamese origin have been arrested in recent months for suspected drug trafficking, including three accused of trying to smuggle heroin onto planes.

Mr Smith said police forces from the countries could work together to help prevent crimes.

"I've made the point to the Prime Minister that Australia does not condone narcotic offences - on the contrary, we regard these as very serious," Mr Smith said.

He had finished a two-day visit to Vietnam.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws.

Drug-driver's jail term slashed

A drug-affected Sydney driver whose unborn child died when he crashed his car, today won a nine-month cut in his minimum jail term.

Danny Rosenthal, 25, was found guilty in December 2006 of driving under the influence of ecstasy, occasioning grievous bodily harm to his heavily pregnant girlfriend, Kelly Porter.

Their unborn child was killed in the accident which occurred in March 2005 at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, where they had driven from their home in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Rosenthal, who was a disqualified driver on bail for other offences at the time of the crash, was jailed for three-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.

But NSW's Court of Criminal Appeal today cut his total sentence to three years and his minimum term to one year nine months.

While describing the offence as serious "with dreadful consequences", Justice Peter Hidden said it also was a "sad and unusual case".

Skaf: 'brand' for gang rapist

Convicted gang rapist Bilal Skaf had such a notorious reputation as the leader of a gang of rapists that he did not receive a fair trial, his lawyer Andrew Haesler, SC, claimed in court today.

Skaf, and his brother Mohammed, are appealing their conviction for the rape of Ms D - one of four victims in three separate pack rapes of which they were accused.

But Mr Haesler said publicity about the spate of attacks in Sydney's west in August 2000 was so notorious that no juror could have put it out of their mind when they came to judge the pair in their April 2006 retrial for the offence against Ms D.

The name was "etched in the public imagination" because of extensive publicity, and his initial 55-year sentence for the first offence was so notorious, that his trial should have been stayed.

Going ahead with the trial in circumstances where Skaf could not have a fair trial amounted to a miscarriage of justice, Mr Haesler said.

"If an advertiser were trying to achieve a brand name for a gang rapist, Bilal Skaf has achieved this aim. The product for gang rapist in western Sydney is Bilal Skaf," Mr Haesler said.

The hearing before the Court of Criminal Appeal continues.

Sentence for boy's killer to stay

An appeal against the sentence handed down to Stuart McMaster has failed

AN appeal against the leniency of a man's jail term for the manslaughter of a five-year-old boy has been dismissed.

Stuart John McMaster, 30, of Hoppers Crossing in Victoria, was jailed last August for 12 years and six months after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Cody Hutchings, his fiancee's son.

The Victorian Supreme Court was told McMaster subjected Cody to brutal bashings to discipline the boy, who had a genetic condition that caused delayed development and behavioural difficulties.

On the last day of Cody's life - March 25, 2006 - McMaster hit the child up to 25 times in attacks that were savagely cruel, Justice David Harper said.

Victoria's chief prosecutor appealed against the length of the jail term, saying it should have been 15 years or more.

That appeal was dismissed today by Victorian Court of Appeal justices David Ashley, Marcia Neave and Lex Lasry, who ruled the sentencing judge correctly applied all legal principles.

The judges said that while McMaster assaulted the child many times and inflicted many bruises and cuts to his body over time, none of the injuries contributed to his death.

The judges said the unlawful and dangerous act to which McMaster admitted was thrusting his foot into the boy's stomach and he had to be punished for that single act.

"The fact that McMaster admitted assaulting the child many times did not mean that the judge could punish him for offences with which he had not been charged," they said.

McMaster was jailed for 12 years and six months for manslaughter and another six months for intentionally causing injury to the child's mother.

The judge fixed a non-parole term of 10 years.

McMaster had pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a jury failed to reach a verdict when he was tried for the boy's murder in June last year.

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Refugee killer loses bid for reduced jail term

A teenager who punched and killed a Sudanese refugee has failed in a court bid to have his four-year jail term reduced on the grounds that he was "immature" at the time.

Father-of-four Kuol Agang, who fled his homeland to escape endemic violence just five months before his death, was punched by the youth on an Auburn Street in January 2006.

The offender, now 19, this month narrowly failed in his bid to convince three Court of Appeal judges that the attack amounted to "juvenile behaviour" or "adolescent bravado" rather than adult thuggery.

The teenager, who was referred to as "KT" in court proceedings, still cannot be identified because of his age at the time of the offence. He was then just days short of his 17th birthday.

On the day of the killing, he was "riding shotgun" in a car driven by a 17-year-old friend while throwing eggs at passers-by.

When an egg narrowly missed Mr Agang, he retaliated by throwing a can or bottle at the teenagers' car. The teens then turned the car around.

The judge, who convicted KT of manslaughter in February last year, was told the heavy-set youth leapt from the car and said: "Let's fight" to Mr Agang before punching him heavily on the jaw.

KT later told authorities he heard a loud noise when Mr Agang fell and hit his head on the ground but rather than help, said: "You want more? I'll be back" before fleeing in the car at high speed.

He admitted during a police interview that he confronted the man for "canning the car", even though he had thrown the egg at him first.

"That's no damage. This [throwing the can at the car] is damage, money, man," he said.

Mr Agang, who weighed 60 kilograms, suffered a 10-centimetre fracture from the base to the middle of his skull and died a few days later at Westmead Hospital.

KT, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to four years in jail but his legal team launched an appeal, claiming the trial judge was wrong for concluding that the teenager had conducted himself in an "adult manner".

KT had left school, was employed and was physically well developed.

One of the three appeal judges, Justice Peter McClellan, agreed that the actions of KT "were typical of the irresponsible and unthinking actions of an immature person" and found that his sentence should be reduced by a year.

But the other two judges hearing the appeal backed the original judge's decision and ruled that the sentence should remain.

"I do not, with respect, consider that the conduct of the kind in question involving such a high level of criminality can be characterised simply as 'immature'," one of them, Justice Peter Hall, found.

"[KT's] offence involving, as it did, a highly-charged confrontation, an intention to injure and a very forceful blow so powerful as to fracture Mr Agang's skull, in my opinion, places it in a category beyond mere immature conduct.

"The evident mixture of anger and malevolence stamped the offence as one involving serious criminality."