Kamal El Jamal sentenced after shooting wife through garage ceiling

News.com.au

2 days ago

A Sydney man who shot his wife and severed her spine, causing 'catastrophic injuries', will spend at least four years behind bars.
Kamal El Jamal, 35, fired several shots from an illegal firearm into the ceiling of his Condell Park garage, in Sydney's southwest, as his wife, Georgina Vlahos, slept in her bed directly above on January, 12, 2023.
El Jamal, pleaded guilty in Downing Centre District Court in February to recklessly causing actual bodily harm and using a pistol not authorised to do so.
Appearing in court for sentencing on Friday, El Jamal cried as Judge Sean Grant sentenced him to seven years in prison, with a non-parole period of four years and three months.
Judge Grant said the shooting was a 'very grave example' of this type of offending, which involved 'a grave risk of death to another person'.
'The victim has no feeling below her spine … she will never walk again,' he told the court.
The prosecution submitted that the victim suffered 'catastrophic injuries' and would undoubtedly require 'significance assistance in various aspects of everyday life'.
However, Ms Vlahos had previously written to the court requesting that El Jamal be her caregiver and saying she had 'forgiven' him.
Details of the horrific injuries he inflicted upon his then partner were previously read out in court.
It wasn't until about 30 minutes after the bullet travelled through the garage ceiling, the floorboards of the main bedroom and the mattress of the bed and hit Ms Vlahos that El Jamal called out to a neighbour for help.
The shots severed Ms Vlahos's spine and caused significant damage to her liver and spleen.
She suffered a devastating spinal cord injury and was told she would never walk again.
At the time of the shooting, El Jamal was 'significantly affected by drugs' and 'did not intend to harm his partner or anyone else', his Legal Aid barrister Ertunc Ozen previously told the court.
Court documents say Ms Vlahos told paramedics that she 'didn't remember anything' upon her arrival at Bankstown Hospital, and she 'could not feel her legs'.
CCTV footage from the day of the incident shows El Jamal driving up to the ambulance bay in a Mercedes-Benz before stopping and getting out of the vehicle.
He then approached paramedics and yelled 'help her, you've got to come and help her', before telling them he 'just found her like this'.
While paramedics were tending to Ms Vlahos, El Jamal fled the scene on foot.
The reasoning for firing the shot is not known, the court was told on Friday, and the pistol was never recovered.
'It is disturbing that the firearm has not been recovered and that it remains in the community,' Judge Grant told the court.
El Jamal's bail was refused during a hearing in February and he was remanded in custody.
He will be eligible for parole in April 2028.