A light sentence given to an Iraqi refugee who sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Queensland is being appealed after the judge’s decision sparked anger in the community.
State Attorney-General Deb Frecklington confirmed on Monday she had instructed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to lodge an appeal against the decision by Toowoomba District Court Judge Deborah Richards to give Salah Sulaiman Almuhama, 29, a suspended sentence.
“I consider the sentence handed down to be manifestly inadequate,” Ms Frecklington said in a statement.
“My thoughts are with the victim and her family.”
Almuhama walked free from court with time served after sentencing on June 18 after Judge Richards took his visa issues into account and spared him a mandatory prison term.
The court heard Almuhama picked up the girl, who was wearing her school uniform, from a shopping centre in Toowoomba in early 2023 after meeting her on Snapchat and discussing a vape sale, drove her to a remote lookout, gave her $50, pulled her pants down and carried out his attack.
He then dropped the 14-year-old, who had told him she was 15, off at a hotel, and spent six months on remand after being arrested and charged with rape and exposing himself/indecent treatment of a child.
Almuhama eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, and one count of supplying a smoking product to a child, after his legal team made a successful submission to have the rape charge dropped, The Chronicle reported at the time.
Judge Richards told Almuhama in sentencing he had treated the girl like a prostitute, taken advantage of her, and forced sex acts on her, but gave him just 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The court heard Almuhama was on bail at the time of the offences but had no criminal record, and moved to Toowoomba with his family after fleeing Baghdad in 2014 and living in a refugee camp until 2018.
Almuhama’s lawyers argued their client would suffer great hardship if deported, and his barrister asked for him to be spared a mandatory jail term for child sex offences.
Judge Richards agreed there were exceptional circumstances, citing visa issues, his lack of criminal history, no further charges, the six months spent in custody, and his early guilty plea.
The sentence of less than one year in custody means Almuhama’s visa will not be automatically cancelled, and if it is not revoked under review he will not be deported unless he commits another indictable crime within the next two years.
The sentence was criticised in parliament by Western Australian One Nation senator Tyron Whitten, who called it an example of two-tier justice.
“This is what you get with the cult of multiculturalism. Two different sets of rules. Concessions and lower standards based on your cultural background,” he said
“Rather than enforcing our laws to protect our way of life this judge has decided that the very fact that the man is at risk of being deported is a reason to spare him an appropriate sentence.
“Enough, this is more reason to deport. Send him back.”
Mr Whitten then called for all non-citizens convicted of violence crimes to be deported.
Header image: Left, Almuhama outside court in 2024 (The Chronicle). Right, Deb Frecklington (Facebook).
The post Weak sentence for Iraqi refugee who sexually assaulted girl, 14, under appeal first appeared on The Noticer.
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