By Casey Neill
A Hallam man will spend an extra three years in jail over the Dandenong Anzac Day terror plot following an appeal.
In June last year Sevdet Besim pleaded guilty to acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.
Justice Michael Croucher sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years and six months.
But the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions said the sentence was too lenient and asked the Court of Appeal to increase it.
Judges Marilyn Warren, Mark Weinberg and Stephen Kaye on Friday 23 June increased Besim’s sentence to 14 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years and six months.
According to a case summary from the court, Besim had planned to drive his car into a police officer performing duties at Anzac Day commemorations in 2015 and immediately thereafter behead him to advance ‘violent jihad’.
In his sentencing Justice Croucher noted the “terrifying and evil” nature of the planned attack.
But he added that Besim’s moral culpability was less than that of two others charged over the plot who planned to attack an army base in Sydney, and therefore warranted a lesser sentence.
He also concluded that there was a ‘reasonable possibility’ that Besim might not have gone through with the attack.
However appeal Chief Justice Warren and her colleagues said an offender’s culpability was not just to be measured by how close they came to committing an act “but also by appreciating the nature and extent of the act contemplated”.
The judges said mitigation should have been limited given the seriousness of Besim’s plan, and that general deterrence and community protection “must be given substantial, if not primary, weight”.
“As this was a case of grave criminality, factors such as rehabilitation and others of a personal nature, including youth, should be given substantially less weight than might be the case in other forms of offending,” they said.
