A Melbourne nurse who bragged on social media about helping foreign fighters in Syria, posting photos of weapons, has been sentenced.
A Melbourne nurse who admitted aiding foreign fighters in Syria and bragged on social media about his exploits, posting photos of weapons, has been sentenced to more than six years imprisonment but is already eligible for parole.
Adam Brookman pleaded guilty to a single charge of performing acts in support or promotion of an offence under foreign incursion laws between May and July 2014.
The 45-year-old from Coolaroo was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday to six years and eight months behind bars.
But after serving more than 2161 days behind bars, he is already eligible to apply for parole.
The father of five left his children and wife to go to Syria in 2014.
“I have seen no evidence that leads me to believe you regret your offending,” Justice Jane Dixon said in handing down her sentence.
During his time in Syria, Brookman helped Chechen rebels who were fighting the Assad regime during the civil war.
“It included reconnaissance, maintaining weapons and performing armed guard duty for opposition forces within a foreign country that you knew was beleaguered by civil war and disorder at the time,” Justice Dixon said.
She said Brookman’s motivation and commitment to the services he performed for the group did not diminish.
He also assisted with medical care and transport for wounded Chechen fighters during his time in the war-torn country.
In an Instagram post, an image shows shoes, clothes, a gun and a stethoscope with the caption: “These are my #essentials not much when compared to your average regular #soldier but they suffice”.
He also posted a photo of a machine gun, saying “she is a beast”, one of a tank and another saying he was on “rabat with the kittens tonight” and said they jumped on his lap when he was on guard duty.
“The social media posts show you felt strongly justified, even exhilarated, performing services for those you assisted,” Justice Dixon said.
In another post, he “quipped” that he failed “gun safety 101” when he accidentally fired a gun into a wall, the judge said.
His lawyer Peter Morrissey told the court the former Ambulance Victoria worker went overseas to “be a medic and an aid worker”.
He said his client could have done “much worse” than what he had gone overseas to do.
The lawyer also argued he wasn’t much of an asset to the rebel forces because of his lack of battlefield expertise.
“You could help ISIS to flatten a town,” Mr Morrissey said during the earlier pre-sentence hearing.
But prosecutors argued he was an asset to the Chechen rebel forces because of his nursing and paramedic background.
Brookman surrendered to Australian authorities and was arrested in July 2015 when he arrived back in the country.
He had been injured in Syria and went to Turkey before negotiating with authorities to return.