By Lucy Carter and staff
Sydney man Adeel Khan, who was found guilty of killing three people by setting fire to his shop, is sentenced to 30 years in jail.
The former Rozelle convenience store owner was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of the September 2014 murder of 27-year-old Chris Noble, and the manslaughter of 11-month old Jude and his 31-year-old mother Bianka O’Brien.
Khan, 46, was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Noble’s flatmate, Todd Fisher, wounding a second flatmate, Corey Cameron, and destroying a building for financial gain.
He will not be eligible for parole until at least 2044.
Mr Noble and his flatmates lived above the store and Ms O’Brien and her family lived in a neighbouring unit.
During her sentencing remarks today Justice Elizabeth Fullerton said Khan had repeatedly said sorry while he was being extricated from the debris following the blaze.
She said Khan gave evidence that although his business had not been profitable, he had withdrawn approximately $50,000 from the business to meet his debts.
Khan continually denied responsibility for deaths
Despite the guilty verdicts, Khan had continually denied responsibility for the deaths, and during the trial he claimed armed men tied him up and blindfolded him on the night of the blaze.
Khan admitted to buying containers of petrol, but denied lighting fuel-soaked lengths of cloth that linked the containers throughout the shop, which led to a huge explosion and fire.
The prosecution argued Khan lit the blaze to get out of his failing business and make an insurance claim.
During sentencing submissions, Mr Noble’s mother, Liz Noble, revealed she now had a tattoo of her son’s final words to her while trapped in his burning bedroom.
Ms Noble said the different verdicts had been distressing because there was no difference between the lives lost.
Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi said while the murder offence did not fall in the worst-case category, the manslaughter offences did.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Obviously this man must pay for what he has done, but one thing I find interesting is that if he had committed the same crime but no one had died or been injured he would no doubt have done far less time, even though the intent would have been the same. Because it seems to me that he had no intention of killing anyone. BTW I'm not arguing against the sentence because someone who does something as stupid as this and doesn't occur to him that people may die as a result is obviously not very bright and perhaps callous and therefore a danger to society, but the point I'm making is that he probably isn't inherently evil unlike people who intentionally murder. It is just interesting to me that the consequences and not necessarily the intent are being punished when there are probably people who are far more evil who would be doing less time. On the other hand people paid the ultimate price for his stupidity and their families will never fully recover from that.
He may not have 'intended' to kill people, but he knew they were there, and still went ahead and lit the fire. At the very least it shows an enormous indifference to their lives. Fire is incredibly dangerous, and can get out of control so quickly, as we see every bushfire season. It was entirely predictable that the fire could have gotten out of control and people could be killed. I don't care what his intent was, his actions killed three people. Thirty years doesn't seem long enough to me.
he is exactly like an intentional murderer, because he was found guilty on one charge. He knowingly did lethal actions, fully aware that at least one occupant was living in the property directly above. The planning involved ie, Buying the accelerant, soaking cloth, igniting, were all dedicated actions. Not stupidity. He also showed no contrition, hence the sentence. It is not clear in the reporting the court's decision to find manslaughter on the other two charges.
Disgraceful - such a shocking crime. He should never be eligible for parole. Those poor people, and their families.