News and Media Releases

On 7 November 2019, Richard Ham (21) and Soo Lee (24) were sentenced in the District Court of New South Wales after pleading guilty to attempting to possess a commercial quantity of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), more commonly known as ‘ecstasy’.

Suzanne Akkari (25) was today sentenced to 18 months imprisonment to be released forthwith on a recognisance of $500 and to be of good behaviour for 18 months, after pleading guilty to a charge of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring another in the arrangement of a marriage to obtain permanent residence, for her part in an arranged marriage scheme. 

Today, Luke Borg (36) was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria after pleading guilty to a number of child sex offences.

The effective sentence imposed on Mr Borg means that he will spend 12 months in prison and then be released on a recognizance release order with a number of relevant conditions which will be in force for a period of 18 months.

A man from Sydney was today sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of 34 years, with a non-parole period of 29 years, for preparing and planning a terrorist attack, threatening to kill the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services and for an attack on an inmate in custody.

The Victorian County Court has today sentenced Mohamed Osman Omar (36), to four years imprisonment, after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) of more than $370,000, and attempting to obtain a further amount of more than $85,000. He will be eligible for parole in two and a half years.

Australian courts have today sentenced two individuals for engaging in terrorist acts in Australia. While the two cases are not related, this is the first time in Australia that any person has been sentenced for the substantive offence of engaging in a terrorist act.

On 7 May 2019, the NSW Supreme Court sentenced 40 year-old Renas Lelikan to a three-year Community Corrections Order for being a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been a proscribed terrorist organisation in Australia since 17 December 2005.

Mr Lelikan had earlier pleaded guilty to being a member of the PKK between April 2011 and August 2013. 

On 26 April 2019, Mr Hugh Cameron, 58, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years, after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of trying to procure a child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia.

On 19 November 2018, Papua New Guinean national Koloney Bama, 52, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in the Cairns Supreme Court for multiple counts of trying to smuggle drugs and the drug precursor ephedrine into Australia. He was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for one count of people smuggling.

A retired 69-year-old Melbourne Man, John McNally appeared before the County Court of Victoria today and was sentenced four years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of two and a half years for defrauding and deceiving the Commonwealth for financial advantage. The total proven amount defrauded was $243,875.26

On 31 August, Neil Andrew Simpson was found guilty of a range of offences related to importing and exporting reptiles. He received a total effective sentence of 1 year 10 months and 27 days imprisonment to be released immediately on the condition that he be of good behaviour for the period of the sentence.

On 3 August, Paul Lee Dinniss, 81, was found guilty of using a carriage service to access and transmit child exploitation material, and possessing child exploitation material. On each of the five Commonwealth charges, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently, but released on recognisance to be of good behaviour for five years.