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An armed robber who drew blood from his own neck while demonstrating a threat to use a knife on his victim has avoided further time behind bars. Mohammad Rezwani, 27, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday to a community-based jail term of two-and-a-half years. The Iranian had previously pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and taking a motor vehicle without consent. An agreed statement of facts shows Rezwani committed those offences late on March 3, 2020, when he knocked on the door of a neighbouring Taylor unit and accused the man inside of damaging his car. The man denied being responsible and said it may have been his brother, who lived in the unit, prompting Rezwani to pull out a knife and threaten to kill both siblings. Rezwani then grabbed the victim by the shirt and forced him to go to the underground car park with the keys to his brother’s Honda Accord, telling him: “I’m gonna want the car.” After a trip to the car park the men returned to the unit, where Rezwani dragged the knife down each side of his own throat and drew blood, saying words to the effect of: “Look at this. I’m going to kill you and this is what I do to you.” The 27-year-old then held the weapon to the victim’s cheek and “made a circular movement with it” on the skin. “The offender told the [victim] that he would kill him with the knife and a gun, and that he would ‘get’ the [victim’s] brother, too,” the agreed facts say. Rezwani eventually left the unit alone, taking with him the keys to the Honda Accord that belonged to the victim’s brother. Upon his arrest at the complex in Canberra’s north a short time later, Rezwani told police he had thought he was “under attack” and that there had been “a war”. The Honda Accord, which had gone missing from the underground car park, was located in a nearby street a few days on. At a sentence hearing on Monday, Rezwani’s barrister Alyn Doig described his client’s conduct as “odd behaviour”. “There is a fair degree of uniqueness in what happened here,” he said. Mr Doig said the incident appeared to be related to mental health, alcohol and unemployment issues, which Rezwani had been addressing since being granted bail after six months in custody on remand. The court heard the offender had been drunk at the time of the incident and he was now attending counselling, while he had also been offered a job in a restaurant. Mr Doig accepted a custodial sentence was appropriate, but urged Justice David Mossop not to impose further time behind bars given Rezwani had made good progress towards rehabilitation. Prosecutor Patrick Dixon said a lengthy period of imprisonment was “inevitable” in aggravated robbery cases, but the method of Rezwani serving his sentence was a matter for the court. In sentencing, Justice Mossop said Rezwani’s use of a knife, the making of serious threats and his touching of the victim made the offending “very serious”. He said the victim had provided a statement to the court, describing how he had feared being stabbed and detailing the ongoing impacts of his experience. “[The victim] stated that he no longer feels as free as he used to,” Justice Mossop said. The judge said a custodial sentence was appropriate, but he recognised Rezwani had already spent a significant time behind bars on remand. He ultimately imposed a backdated two-and-a-half year jail sentence, to be served in the community via an intensive correction order that will expire in January 2023. “If you don’t comply with [the order’s] requirements, you’re likely to get sent back to jail,” Justice Mossop warned Rezwani.
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An armed robber who drew blood from his own neck while demonstrating a threat to use a knife on his victim has avoided further time behind bars.
Mohammad Rezwani, 27, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday to a community-based jail term of two-and-a-half years.
An agreed statement of facts shows Rezwani committed those offences late on March 3, 2020, when he knocked on the door of a neighbouring Taylor unit and accused the man inside of damaging his car.
The man denied being responsible and said it may have been his brother, who lived in the unit, prompting Rezwani to pull out a knife and threaten to kill both siblings.
Rezwani then grabbed the victim by the shirt and forced him to go to the underground car park with the keys to his brother’s Honda Accord, telling him: “I’m gonna want the car.”
After a trip to the car park the men returned to the unit, where Rezwani dragged the knife down each side of his own throat and drew blood, saying words to the effect of: “Look at this. I’m going to kill you and this is what I do to you.”
The 27-year-old then held the weapon to the victim’s cheek and “made a circular movement with it” on the skin.
“The offender told the [victim] that he would kill him with the knife and a gun, and that he would ‘get’ the [victim’s] brother, too,” the agreed facts say.
Rezwani eventually left the unit alone, taking with him the keys to the Honda Accord that belonged to the victim’s brother.
Upon his arrest at the complex in Canberra’s north a short time later, Rezwani told police he had thought he was “under attack” and that there had been “a war”.
The Honda Accord, which had gone missing from the underground car park, was located in a nearby street a few days on.
At a sentence hearing on Monday, Rezwani’s barrister Alyn Doig described his client’s conduct as “odd behaviour”.
“There is a fair degree of uniqueness in what happened here,” he said.
Mr Doig said the incident appeared to be related to mental health, alcohol and unemployment issues, which Rezwani had been addressing since being granted bail after six months in custody on remand.
The court heard the offender had been drunk at the time of the incident and he was now attending counselling, while he had also been offered a job in a restaurant.
Mr Doig accepted a custodial sentence was appropriate, but urged Justice David Mossop not to impose further time behind bars given Rezwani had made good progress towards rehabilitation.
Prosecutor Patrick Dixon said a lengthy period of imprisonment was “inevitable” in aggravated robbery cases, but the method of Rezwani serving his sentence was a matter for the court.
In sentencing, Justice Mossop said Rezwani’s use of a knife, the making of serious threats and his touching of the victim made the offending “very serious”.
He said the victim had provided a statement to the court, describing how he had feared being stabbed and detailing the ongoing impacts of his experience.
“[The victim] stated that he no longer feels as free as he used to,” Justice Mossop said.
The judge said a custodial sentence was appropriate, but he recognised Rezwani had already spent a significant time behind bars on remand.
He ultimately imposed a backdated two-and-a-half year jail sentence, to be served in the community via an intensive correction order that will expire in January 2023.
“If you don’t comply with [the order’s] requirements, you’re likely to get sent back to jail,” Justice Mossop warned Rezwani.
