By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A former Noble Park North student has been jailed after leading a “terrifying” daylight home invasion in Clyde North in which a woman had a gun pointed to her head and a man was slashed to his belly.
Naheem Bahrami, 40, was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury of aggravated home invasion, two counts of common law assault and criminal damage.
In sentencing on 14 June, Judge Daniel Holding said Bahrami played a “central role” in the “brazen” act in which he and two accomplices kicked in the home’s front double doors at 7.30am on 4 December 2017.
The male victim, who was just getting up from bed, was confronted in the hallway by the three men – two he described as “Somali” and a shorter man as “Hispanic” or “southern European”.
The trial’s main issue was whether the third man was Bahrami, Judge Holding said. A jury affirmed this was the case beyond reasonable doubt.
One of Bahrami’s co-offenders, holding a gun, told the victim: “We want your stuff.”
“You’re not going to get my stuff,” the resident retorted.
“And you’re not going to shoot me with that.”
In the bedroom, the female victim was confronted while she was on the phone to triple-0.
She screamed as a gun was pointed at her head – her shrieks recorded on the triple-0 call showed her “completely understandable” terror, Judge Holding noted.
Soon after, the trio fled with the male victim chasing Bahrami around the getaway car.
One of the accomplices slashed the victim’s stomach with a hunting knife. The victim was also punched by one of the accomplices.
Bahrami had earlier offered to recover money or property from the home on behalf of a drug-trafficking addict.
After the home invasion, he returned to the addict’s home “frantic” and saying “things had not gone to plan”. Bahrami demanded further payment for his troubles.
Judge Holding said Bahrami clearly expected the residents to be at home during the intrusion, and that the firearm was to be used to make them comply with demands.
The fact that the male occupant didn’t comply was irrelevant, the judge noted.
Bahrami was found not guilty of being culpable for the stabbing, but guilty for his accomplice’s punch to the victim.
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Bahrami was exposed to traumatic violent events as a child. He was part of a ethnic minority targeted by Soviet occupiers and Afghans, Judge Holding noted.
Two of his siblings and several relatives were killed during the turmoils.
After two years in a Pakistan refugee camp, he and his family migrated to Australia in 1991.
He was schooled at primary schools in Prahran and Mulgrave as well as Carwatha College in Noble Park North, but fell into drug use at a young age.
Mitigating factors were the four-year trial delay, Bahrami’s “diminishing” offending, his “less prominent” drug issues and his support of his wife and ill mother.
However, while on bail, Bahrami had been convicted twice for other offending in 2019 and 2022, the judge noted.
Among his serious criminal record was a four-and-a-half jail term in 2012 for intentionally causing serious injury.
The community rightly expected home invaders with firearms to receive significant jail terms, Judge Holding said.
Bahrami was jailed for up to seven years and one month. He is eligible for parole after four years and eight months.
His term includes 55 days already served in pre-sentence detention.
