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Former girlfriend of Sydney siege shooter Man Haron Monis has cut her sentence by nearly a decade for the murder of his ex-wife.
Amirah Droudis, 41, repeatedly stabbed the mother of Monis’ two children in 2013 in a block of flats in West Sydney before she doused them with gasoline and set them on fire.
She was sentenced to 44 years in prison without probation of 33 years in 2017 after a sole trial of the judge found Monis planned the murder but was unwilling to carry it out himself.
The NSW appeals court today overturned the original sentence, imposing one of 35 years with a 26-year non-probationary period.
Droudi’s earliest publication date is now March 2041 – about six years earlier than her original sentence dictated.
The Appellate Panel, comprised of Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and Judges Clifton Hoeben and Peter Hamill, found that the judge made a mistake in examining the aftermath of Monis’ death during the 2014 siege of Lindt Cafe considered.
They found that removing his continued « evil and ubiquitous » influence on Droudis should have been considered.
The judges accepted that their murder had « ritual taste » but said it was not motivated by terrorist ideology.
« There is nothing to suggest that the applicant’s continued observance of the Islamic faith made it more likely that she would engage in future criminal activities of the type for which she was convicted, » the verdict reads.
Monis planned to murder his ex-wife in order to secure custody of their two children after a separation in 2011.
The original judge, Judge Peter Johnson, described the murder as « a brutal and callous attack on a defenseless woman ». .
Justice Johnson also noted that Droudis had ample opportunity to withdraw from the scheme and ignored Monis’ instruction not to set the victim on fire.
Droudis met Monis in 2003 and entered into a relationship before converting to Islam with her daughter.
She appeared in propaganda videos between 2008 and 2009 and recited scripts that Monis had written under the guise of « Sister Amirah ». .
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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time, 10 hours before GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
Man Haron Monis, Amirah Droudis, Siege von Lindt Cafe, Lindt & Sprüngli
Weltnachrichten – AU – The former girlfriend of the rifleman from Lindt Cafe turned 10 for the brutal murder of his ex Years imprisonment -wife
Ref: https://www.abc.net.au
