'What does it take to get a prison sentence?' Outrage as 'mongrel' baby grave vandal dodges jail
A Sydney man who vandalised 68 graves, many of them belonging to babies, has caused outrage after he managed to avoid a jail sentence.
At 2am on a November morning in 2015, Naseem Raad destroyed 68 grave sites, including those of babies, at Rookwood Cemetery and filmed it on his own phone.
Raad, 23, claims he doesn’t remember doing it.
But victim Isaac Jan says Raad isn’t accepting his excuse.
“Neck up, you parrot,” he said.
“Simply, you can’t just go around doing things like this.”
On Thursday a magistrate let him serve his nine-month sentence at home.
After calls from Seven News, Attorney General Mark Speakman indicated he will ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the court’s decision and consider appealing the lenient sentence.
Leader of the Opposition Luke Foley said the light sentence for the unemployed stone mason “beggars belief”.
“What does it take to get a prison sentence?” he said.
“It’s an insult to those families of the dead – 68 graves at the Rookwood Cemetery defaced by this mongrel.”
The magistrate has ordered Raad to pay $63,450 in compensation within the next 28 days.
Some of the graves that Raad damage are still yet to be repaired.
