FEDERAL prosecutors believe five men who conspired to plan a terrorist attack on Australian soil will still present a danger to the public even after they have served decades in prison.

The NSW Supreme Court heard yesterday that the five Sydney men, who after the most expensive trial in Australian history were convicted of conspiracy to prepare for terrorist acts, had shown no contrition for their crime and did not accept the jury's guilty verdicts.

Prosecutor Richard Maidment SC yesterday called on judge Anthony Whealy to sentence the group's two ringleaders to the heaviest sentences of the five.

Two of the other accused -- classified as middle-ranking members of the conspiracy -- should spend a minimum of 20 years in prison, Mr Maidment told the court.

The fifth convicted man was deemed to have played a lesser role in the terrorist conspiracy.

The five men cannot be named for legal reasons.

The submissions yesterday came after guilty verdicts were handed down to the five men by a jury in October.

The five Sydney men who faced court during yesterday's pre-sentencing hearing all face a maximum term of life in prison.

But Mr Maidment told the court the prosecution was not calling for the maximum penalty to be imposed. Although there was evidence the men had stockpiled ammunition, bomb-making equipment and explosive chemicals, they had not identified a terror target or developed a clear intent to kill civilians.

"Although this case falls short of the most serious class of case . . . it is not much short of the most serious class of case," Mr Maidment said.

"It is not suggested there is any contrition displayed by any of these offenders.

"The evidence points to a high level of defiance and no retraction of their extremist views. We would have no confidence that when they are released from prison they will be anything other than still a danger to the public."

But defence counsel Richard Button SC told the hearing that it was wrong for the prosecution to make long-term predictions about the convicted men's prospects of rehabilitation.

"It is impossible to say what may be the position in terms of rehabilitation literally decades hence," Mr Button said.

"The uproar over the invasion of Iraq has diminished . . . there will be ample time for reflection.

"Perhaps more generally there will be a day when Islam and its place in the world will not be the subject of so much conflict."

He called for the judge to impose "a stern sentence, but not a disproportionately crushing one".

Siobhan Mullany, acting for one of the middle-ranking members of the conspiracy, called for her client's sentence to be mitigated by the fact that he had no prior convictions and was suffering severe depression in prison.

The pre-sentencing hearing will continue tomorrow.


Natasha Robinson
15th December 2009

Source: The Australian