Two men who were just 15 and 16 years old when they murdered a service station assistant and wrote “IS” in his blood have had their sentenced drastically reduced.
Horrific details have been revealed surrounding a series of events which led to two teenagers being jailed after they murdered a service station attendant in a “violent and uncontrolled criminal rampage” before scrawling “IS” on the window in the man’s blood, as the pair succeed in having their sentences reduced.
Pakistani national Zeeshan Akbar was stabbed to death at a Queanbeyan Caltex outlet just outside Canberra in April 2017 during a robbery by two teens, who were aged 15 and 16 at the time.
The university student let the pair inside the Bungendore Rd service station using his swipe card about 11.46pm before he was stabbed three times by the 16-year-old offender, only identified as DM.
The 15-year-old, known as DS, jumped the counter and attempted to remove a cash register while DM continued to stab Mr Akbar before dipping his finger in the victim’s blood and writing “IS” on the window.
Mr Akbar died in a pool of blood as the pair made off with the cash register and cigarettes.
The late-night murder followed a string of assaults and robberies, where the 16-year-old had armed himself with a knife and threatened to stab anyone who got in his way.
Following the murder, the teenagers attempted to carjack a vehicle as it was driving through the city before DM stabbed the driver and drove away with the vehicle.
The youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sensationally changed their pleas to guilty ahead of a trial in September 2020.
The younger boy pleaded guilty to murder and drive motor vehicle without consent of owner. He was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison with a non-parole period of ten years and nine months.
Meanwhile the older boy pleaded guilty to the same two offences, as well as a charge of robbery with wounding while armed with an offensive weapon and an offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was sentenced to 35 years and six months behind bars with a non-parole period of 23 years and six months.
Both teenagers faced the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this year where they applied to have their sentenced reduced.
In his judgment, Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Bellew said the youths’ behaviour left “one person dead, another stabbed and carjacked, a third person seriously assaulted and a fourth the subject of a violent attempt to steal property from their home”.
Justice Bellew said DS did not take “any active step to assist in the murder of Mr Akbar and did not have any knowledge he would be killed.
“DS’s crime was undoubtedly serious,” Justice Bellew said in his judgment.
“Nevertheless, and while it is not necessary to specify the objective seriousness of DS’s offence of murder on some hypothetical scale, its objective seriousness can be categorised as below the middle of the range for the offence of murder.”
Justice Bellew found DS’s cognitive impairment and youth reduced his moral culpability and resentenced him to an aggregate sentence of 14 years and six months, with a non-parole period of 10 years.
The younger man had four years shaved off his sentence and will now be eligible for parole on April 6, 2027.
Justice Bellew said DM was the “clear instigator” of the offences and was also the reason the younger offender was present.
“It was DM who brutally attacked Mr Akbar,” he said.
The older man was resentenced to an aggregate term of 27 years’ imprisonment, down from his original sentence of 35 years and six months.
DM will be eligible for parole on November 7, 2037.
Extracted from news.com.au