A famous gangster told his pregnant wife: “I want you and the baby dead” before launching a horrific attack that killed the fetus.
Ahmed Karim’s original sentence has now been increased from a minimum non-parole period of eight years to a non-parole period of 10 years, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In September 2021, Karim, a member of the notorious Alameddine crime network, attacked his then-wife Leticia Chalmers at their home in western Sydney, when they were both in their 20s.
Karim first grabbed Mrs Chalmers and then pushed her to the ground.
He then stomped on her stomach, pressed his knee on her and strangled her until she passed out.
He later woke her up by pouring cold water on her head, but the violence was not over.
He kicked her repeatedly and said he wanted both Ms Chalmers and her unborn daughter to die.
Ahmed Karim (left), a member of the notorious Alameddine crime network, told his pregnant wife Leticia Chalmers (right): “I want you and the baby to die.”
After he left, Ms Chalmers fled outside where a neighbor found her and called triple zero.
She gave birth to her daughter, whom she named Adeya, but the baby did not survive.
Chalmers and Karim met at school and began dating when they were teenagers.
She became pregnant in April 2021, but Karim was completely against her having a baby.
“Get rid of him,” he told her, according to court documents.
“Leticia, you will make my God curse me,” he told Ms. Chalmers by text message. ‘I don’t care if it kills you. Even if it’s a fucking abortion.”
In June that year, Mrs Chalmers had said she was willing to raise the baby alone and in September she married Karim under Islamic law in a bid to please him.
In July 2023, Karim pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and aggravated sexual assault in the District Court of New South Wales.
But 17 months later, the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) concluded that Karim’s original minimum sentence of eight years and maximum sentence of 12 years were “manifestly inadequate” given the extreme level of violence he used.
A three-judge panel resentenced him to a non-parole period of 10 years and a new maximum sentence of 15 years.
Karim (pictured) pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and aggravated sexual assault in the New South Wales District Court.
Karim (pictured) will be able to apply for parole in 2031, given the time he has already spent behind bars
The CCA judges said Judge Stephen Hanley had made “no glaring error” in his original sentence, but found the sentence “did not reflect the objective seriousness” of the offence.
They also said he “failed to acknowledge the community’s disapproval of the defendant’s conduct.”
Judge Hanley heard Karim was addicted to gambling and also drugs, which emerged when he sold drugs for the Alameddine crime network, as part of the R4W (Ready 4 War) syndicate.
Karim attempted to blame his vicious attack on Ms Chalmers having seen his close friend Shady Kanj shot dead in the war a month before the attack in August 2021.
But Judge Hanley did not accept the excuse.
Karim’s sentence includes a three-year sentence for the charge of continuous supply of a prohibited drug.
He will be able to apply for parole in 2031, given the time he has already spent behind bars.