A man who smashed his car into a McDonald’s and wielded a knife at his terrified partner has been sentenced to more than five years in jail.
Abbas Hayder Al-Khafaji was in a state of psychosis due to his cannabis use and failure to take his prescribed medication before the February 2022 attack, a court heard.
His condition inspired delusions of his partner cheating on him, triggering a confrontation in which he brandished the knife.
Judge Tanya Smith said the victim “endured what no woman should ever have to” during the traumatising attack as she sentenced Al-Khafaji at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court today.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously told the court she arranged with him to meet her at the McDonald’s at Narellan, in Sydney’s south-west, after he questioned her whereabouts over the phone.
The now 29-year-old was waiting in his SUV when she arrived before he brought out a knife and demanding to know if she had been cheating on him.
Smith said the woman was “genuinely terrified for her life” when she ran towards the fast-food outlet for safety.
Al-Khafaji returned to his car before ploughing the SUV into the front of the McDonald’s and smashing into tables in the outside dining area.
He then followed the woman into the kitchen, where she had fled, and confronted her while holding the knife.
Al-Khafaji also threatened an employee and paced angrily around the store before he eventually got back in the car and drove off.
Smith said two young staff members were hidden in fear, with one hyperventilating.
Al-Khafaji was paranoid and had a “look in his eyes that was unrecognisable”, the victim previously told the court.
“F— you … I’m going to kill you,” he said to her.
The Oran Park man pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon with an intent to commit an indictable offence, destroying or damaging property worth up to $15,000 and contravening the conditions of an apprehended violence order (AVO).
During a phone call made while in custody, in breach of the AVO against him, Al-Khafaji sought to tempt the victim back after the assault.
“Weren’t you happy I did that because it shows I’m serious about you?” he told her.
The victim was once an outgoing and bubbly person, but she had grown numb and closed off from the world since the attack, Smith said.
Symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression manifested in panic attacks and sleep deprivation, the judge added, leaving her “tormented by thoughts of how she had feared for her life”.
Smith sentenced Al-Khafaji to a maximum of five and a half years in jail, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
Wearing prison greens, the 29-year-old stood with his shoulders slouched as officers secured him in handcuffs after the sentence was delivered.
Smith noted that Al-Khafaji had faced a traumatic upbringing, experiencing childhood sex abuse and physical abuse at the hands of his mother.
His history of mental illness and need for rehabilitation services was considered in the sentence.
Al-Khafaji will be eligible for parole on October 21, 2025.
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