R v Sultani [2024] NSWSC 338

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Sultani [2024] NSWSC 338 Hearing dates: 27 and 28 March 2024 Decision date: 05 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Ierace J Decision: The offender is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a period of 31 years 6 months, commencing on 20 May 2020 and expiring on 19 November 2051, with a non-parole period of 23 years, to expire on 19 May 2043. Catchwords: SENTENCING – Murder – Context of organised criminal activity – Where offender and deceased known to each other through mutual involvement in outlaw motorcycle gang – Where offender shot deceased with an intention to kill – Where circumstances of killing contested Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 18(1)(a) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 21A(2)(n), 22A, 25D(4), 61(1) Cases Cited: DH v R [2022] NSWCCA 200 R v Sultani [2023] NSWSC 645 R v Sultani; R v Munshizada; R v Baines; R v Danishyar [2021] NSWSC 1654 R v Walker [2023] NSWCCA 219 Category: Sentence Parties: Rex Abuzar Sultani (Offender) Representation: Counsel: Mr D Scully SC (Crown) Mr P Johnson (Offender)

Solicitors: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) John B Hajje & Associates (Offender) File Number(s): 2020/150163

JUDGMENT 1. HIS HONOUR: On 30 January 2024, Abuzar Sultani (the offender) pleaded guilty to a charge that between 22 and 27 June 2015 he murdered Mark Easter (the deceased) contrary to s 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The plea of guilty was entered a week before the trial was set to commence. 2. The offender is 35 years old. At the time of his arrest on 29 November 2016, he was the leader of a criminal gang that had operated for a period of about three years. He is currently serving three sentences of life imprisonment and three determinate sentences of imprisonment for offences committed in that period. 3. This is the offender's fifth conviction for the offence of murder and the second in time of those offences. The first was the murder of Nikola Srbin on 16 May 2013, for which he was sentenced by Hamill J on 13 June 2023 to 20 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years: R v Sultani [2023] NSWSC 645. His culpability was on the basis of extended joint criminal enterprise, the deceased having been fatally assaulted by a group organised by the offender to "beat up" Mr Srbin. His Honour found that the motive was not apparent, but was "most likely to warn off rival drug dealers from treating his associate or runner ill". 4. For the other three murders, the offender was sentenced by Fagan J on 17 December 2021 to terms of life imprisonment: R v Sultani; R v Munshizada; R v Baines; R v Danishyar [2021] NSWSC 1654. Fagan J found that all three offences were pre-planned and committed with the participation of members of his gang. 5. The third murder in time was of Michael Davey, who was shot by the offender and Siar Munshizada, on 30 March 2016. Fagan J was unable to determine a motive on the evidence, other than that it was for "some criminal commercial purpose". 6. The fourth murder was of Mehmet Yilmaz, who was shot by the offender on 9 September 2016. Again, the motive was not apparent, other than that it was "in the course of and as an adjunct to [the offender's] organised criminal activity". 7. The final murder was of Pasquale Barbaro, on 14 November 2016. The offender waited in a stolen car with other gang members in sight of a Sydney suburban residence in anticipation of Mr Barbaro emerging from it. When Mr Barbaro came out of the residence and got into his car, the offender's car pulled alongside Mr Barbaro's car, at which point Mr Barbaro was shot at least four times by a person in the rear seat. Joshua Baines, a gang member, was convicted at trial of murder on the basis that he was that person. Fagan J found that the wounds he inflicted "would have been fatal within no more than a minute". 8. Mr Barbaro was able to exit his vehicle and run away. The offender alighted and discharged his pistol in the direction of Mr Barbaro, who fell to the ground. The offender approached him and discharged five rounds into the back of his neck and head. Fagan J found that part of the offender's motive was to avenge the death of a friend of the offender, who he believed had been murdered by Mr Barbaro. The killing was partly captured by a CCTV camera, which the offender and his co-offenders became aware of, by 22 November 2016. 9. On 31 March 2023, the offender was sentenced by O'Rourke SC DCJ for aggravated possession of firearms offences committed in 2015, to imprisonment for 8 years, with a non-parole period of 6 years, commencing on the date of his arrest on 29 November 2016. 10. On 24 November 2023, the offender was sentenced by Whitford SC DCJ for nine offences, with another 15 taken into account on Form 1 documents. The type of offences included knowingly directing activities of a criminal group, serious assaults, robbery in company, the supply of commercial and large commercial quantities of prohibited drugs and firearms offences. He received an aggregate sentence of imprisonment for 28 years, commencing on the date of his arrest of 29 November 2016. A non-parole period was not fixed, there being no utility in doing so, in view of the life sentences.