The final act of the ongoing saga of Sydney siege gunman, Man Haron Monis and his actions, was played on Wednesday in the NSW supreme court at Darlinghurst, when Amirah Droudis was sentenced for 44 years in jail, for the 2013 murder of Monis’ ex-wife.
The 37 year old woman was found guilty for the horrific crime in November. The severity of her actions – she stabbed the victim 18 times and set the body on fire – led the court to give her a non-parole period of 33 years. The decision was met with a statement of relief by the victim’s family: “Today we are very happy that justice has been served to our only daughter. We would like to thank the judge, the legal team, the DPP and the police department, and our special thanks goes to all the police officers who were involved in this case for doing a great job from day one.”
Despite her unquestionable moral culpability, Droudis herself was also found to be a victim of Monis, whom the court described as “an evil man” who had “clearly orchestrated and planned the murder”.
Droudis’ lawyers said that she was repeatedly assaulted and abused, both physically and emotionally, by Monis during their relationship and that he had influenced her to convert to Islam, changing her name from Anastasia to Amirah, and appear to a series of extreme videos, in which she calls herself a “terrorist”.