Afghan refugee jailed for eight years for thwarted 'honour killing' in Melbourne

A 28-year-old Afghan refugee who organised a so-called honour killing that was later thwarted has been sentenced to eight years in jail.

Wahid Najibi was found guilty of organising the murder of the new partner of a woman he was once engaged to (his first cousin - corpau).

He was convicted by a Victorian Supreme Court jury in April of one charge of incitement to murder in 2012.
The woman, known only as ZN, was Najibi's first cousin and was promised to him by her family in an arranged marriage in 2008.

There is nothing at all 'honourable' in what you proposed be done ... and that it reflects a skewed moral or ethical paradigm that is entirely unacceptable in this or any society.

Justice Karin Emerton

She was against the union and later fled to Queensland with another member of Melbourne's Afghan community, where they married and had a child.

The court heard Najibi arranged to have his cousin's new partner killed after she and her family returned to live in Melbourne's north.

He met several times with a petty criminal he had met in Warragul to discuss the plan and provided him with photos of the man, his vehicle and address.

But the court heard the man he chose to carry out the murder inadvertently subcontracted it out to an undercover police officer who was posing as a hit man for hire and later cooperated with police.

Najibi was arrested on Valentine's Day 2012, the day the murder was supposed to have been carried out.

He was charged with a string of offences that were later dropped.

Najibi travelled to Afghanistan and was rearrested after returning to Australia in 2013.

"This type of criminal conduct in which you attempted to engage ... is sometimes referred to as an honour killing," Justice Karin Emerton said.

"It must be clearly stated that there is nothing at all 'honourable' in what you proposed be done ... and that it reflects a skewed moral or ethical paradigm that is entirely unacceptable in this or any society.

"It shows a profound disrespect for the lives of others and for the rule of law."

'Driven to exact bloody revenge' over a perceived slight

The court heard Najibi grew up in Afghanistan while the country was at war with the Soviet Union and later moved to Pakistan.

Several relatives were killed or disappeared due to the family's political affiliations and after the family moved to Australia in 1996, Najibi's parents worked long hours and he took over caring duties for his younger siblings.

Justice Emerton told Najibi, in many ways, he had lead "an exemplary young life" and had been "a very responsible and caring son and brother" who had "carried a heavy burden as the oldest child of a refugee family in which the parents, in addition to the challenges of dislocation, have experienced serious health issues."

"[But] the offence of incitement to murder is a serious one ... your offending, which involved inciting a person who was a local thug and 'enforcer' with a serious drug and alcohol problem to go to the home of a young family in the dead of night to kill one of them with a shotgun, merits severe punishment," she said.

"This conduct is redolent of the lawlessness and brutality from which you and your family fled in the first place."

Justice Emerton told Najibi she believed his family's influence provided a "skewed" rationale for his offending and general and specific deterrence were important factors in sentencing.

"I consider it likely that you felt pressure from your family ... and that you saw it as part of your role as a dutiful son to deal with him [the target of the murder] thus," she said.

"However, in considering your moral culpability, I do so on the basis that you were driven by a desire to exact brutal and bloody revenge for what you perceived as a slight.

"I cannot ignore the fact that you were the instigator of the offending, that you stood to derive the main benefit from the murder ... and that the benefit was vengeance."

A young woman sitting with Najibi's parents sobbed loudly after the sentence was handed down.
He will be eligible for parole in four years and nine months.

abc.net.au 10 Jun 2015

The Australian government importing criminals under the 'refugee' banner.

Is this good governance 'for the people'? Definitely not, never was and never will be.

Putting the people of Australia, the community at risk.

Send this piece of garbage back to where it came from