Mert Ney sentenced to 33 years for Michaela Dunn’s murder, Sydney CBD rampage

Ney was sentenced to a maximum of 44 years in prison for the savage murder of Michaela Dunn, 24, inside a Clarence Street apartment and the serious wounding of Lin Bo as he ran through Sydney CBD streets on August 19, 2019.

He stood and stared blankly as Justice Peter Johnson convicted him after delivering a scathing assessment of a man he said was “devoid of natural human sympathy or regret” who set out to cause bedlam and serious harm.

Outside the court Friday Ms Dunn’s sister Emily and mother Joanne stood side-by-side to declare no sentence would ever make up for the empty seat at the family dinner table.

Emily Dunn said she was frustrated at the system that allowed Ney to be free to kill her sister on that fateful day, which had also let down 62 other women who died at the hands of men in 2019 alone.

“But today we’re trying really hard to leave some of that frustration behind and attempt to craft out a future in a way that honours Mikky,” she said.

Justice Johnson said Ney adopted the “trappings, gestures and language” of a terrorist on the day he boarded a train from Blacktown station with a knife and balaclava in his backpack.

His terrifying rampage through the streets, still armed and covered in Ms Dunn’s blood, included repeated shouts of “Allahu Akbar” and a one-fingered salute adopted by terror group ISIS.

Along the way he yelled for people to “shoot me” and would later tell a court he hoped police would kill him.

Justice Johnson paid tribute to the brave members of the public who pursued the killer for hundreds of metres before pinning him to the ground with a milk crate and chair.

Ney pleaded guilty to a string of charges including murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in October.

Justice Johnson accepted the now 22-year-old was not an extremist but said his actions were inspired by violent video games, mass killings and videos of the Christchurch massacre, which Ney confessed he obsessed over in the weeks before his attack.

The court heard he joked with friends on social media about murder and sexual violence towards women.

Justice Johnson rejected Ney’s claim at a sentence hearing in March that the attack on escort Ms Dunn was spontaneous, saying it was clear he made the journey into the city “planning to kill a person”.

Ney booked a $250 appointment with Ms Dunn but turned up at 1.44pm with only $2 cash and no credit card.

He attacked her almost immediately, cutting the defenceless woman’s throat and stabbing her in the face, chest, neck and arms as she desperately tried to fend him off.

Giving evidence before his sentence, Ney told the court he booked the appointment just to “get off the street”, saying she asked him “are you OK?” before he pulled out a knife.

Ney said he stabbed her repeatedly “just to make her be silent” but later claimed he still did not know why he killed her.

“I knew she was going to die. There were 20 or 30 stab wounds in her neck – she was going to die, there was no doubt about it,” he said.

When Justice Johnson described the wounds Ms Dun suffered her mother let out an audible gasp and sobbed.

“This was a cruel, brutal and terrifying attack made for no reason,” Justice Johnson said. “It is entirely clear the offender intended to kill Ms Dunn.”

After he killed Ms Dunn, Ney filmed himself in two videos including one of him standing over her lifeless body, and gloating over her death before sending the heinous recording to a friend on social media.

“Yeah I’m a f***ing psycho,” Ney wrote. “I was laughing bro.”

Justice Johnson said those “gruesome and bizarre” videos showed he was enjoying the results of his onslaught on Ms Dunn. Ney’s lack of empathy was “disturbing”, he said.

After fleeing the apartment onto the city streets he stabbed Lin Bo in the back before heroic bystanders gave chase and pinned him to the ground in Wynyard Lane.

Mrs Dunn also began to cry when the Justice Johnson told the court Ney would not serve a life sentence because his multiple mental health issues – including anxiety, depression, OCD and an intellectual disability – had to be taken into account.

“It is clear Ms Dunn was much loved and was a loving and devoted member of the Dunn family,” he said.

“She would no doubt have lived a long and happy life but for the tragic events of August 13, 2019.”

Ney’s pattern of violence and disobedience behind bars meant his chances of living a normal life back in the community were “bleak in the extreme”, Justice Johnson said.

“Put shortly the offender is a dangerous man and continues to be a dangerous man.”

Ney’s body shook throughout the sentencing but he mostly stared at the ground with his head resting on his left hand.

He will first be eligible for parole on August 12, 2052.