Robert Cerantonio, leader of Australia’s ‘tinnie terror’ plot jailed for seven years
- The five men towed their small boat by car some 3,000km from Melbourne to Cairns
- They planned to sail to Philippines to join an Islamist rebellion, but were arrested before they left Australia
Robert Cerantonio and four other men towed their small boat by car some 3,000km (1,865 miles) from Melbourne to Cairns in northern Queensland state.
Their far-fetched 2016 plan was dubbed the “tinnie terror” plot – small aluminium boats are known as tinnies in Australia – even though their boat was made of fibreglass.
“The whole venture was poorly planned and, I fear, foredoomed to failure,” Victoria state Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher said in a statement provided by the court.
“Given the ill-suited vessel the group had bought and their lack of serious boating experience, it is hard to imagine that they would have made it very far past the breakers,” he said.
Australia charges five men over plot to sail to join Islamic State
The four other men, and a fifth who was involved in planning but never left Melbourne, were jailed earlier.
Cerantonio’s seven-year sentence, with no chance of parole for five years and three months, was the longest.
“As the leader of the group … and as the one who inspired them to join the agreement, Mr Cerantonio bears a much greater moral culpability than his co-accused,” Croucher said.
Cerantonio had pleaded guilty to planning the trip to the Philippines. His lawyer did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Police who had been trailing Cerantonio initially believed he was hoping to get to Syria, where more than 100 Australians had travelled to join IS, the government estimates.
