Wannabe car crash fraudster jailed after insuring $25,000 BMW for $132,000

Another wannabe insurance fraudster has joined one of his co-offenders in jail after they staged a car crash before making insurance claims.

Adam Hasan Kilani was sentenced to 17 months’ jail, to be suspended after he serves eight months, by the ACT Supreme Court in August 2024, recently released sentencing remarks show.

His co-offenders, husband and wife Rabea Fares and Lina Faris, were sentenced over their roles earlier this year. While Fares had been sent to jail, his wife was spared a similar fate so she could take care of their children.

On 27 February 2020, Kilani drove a silver BMW convertible into the back of an Audi SUV, driven by Faris with her husband in the passenger seat, on Eucumbene Drive in Duffy.

Kilani then lied, telling police and first responders he was a passenger and his sister had been driving the BMW.

He owned the car, which he had bought for $25,000 but insured it for $132,000, and made a claim on it the day after the crash.

Justice David Mossop said while the facts of Kilani’s case were agreed by the parties, they disagreed as to the characterisation of those facts which he had to resolve.

“[Kilani] accepts that the vehicle was over-insured but says that any conspiracy with his co-offenders in relation to an insurance claim occurred after the accident and that the accident was genuine,” Justice Mossop said.

Prosecutors argued the car crash was staged and Kilani deliberately drove his car into the back of the stationary Audi to facilitate his insurance claim. Justice Mossop ultimately agreed.

The judge said the BMW was “very substantially over-insured”. While it was insured for $132,100, third-party pricing data indicated a car of that model and year would be priced between $32,000 and $42,000.

Kilani lied to police by saying he had never seen the driver or passenger in the Audi before. He later admitted he had done a number of painting jobs with Fares, while phone records showed there were texts and calls between them through February 2020 including on the day of the crash.

“The telling of the lies about whether or not he knew Mr Fares is consistent with a consciousness of guilt,” Justice Mossop said.

He said the expert evidence was inconsistent with Kilani’s version of events and established that the Audi was stationary at the time of the crash.

“The conduct involved pursuit of the scheme through the lodging of an insurance claim and the maintenance of a false version of events to police and insurance investigators,” Justice Mossop said.

“It involved the diversion of resources by police, ambulance and fire brigade, and involved undermining the system of motor vehicle insurance through the making of a false claim.”

Born in Iraq, Kilani moved to Australia in 2006. The married father-of-two works as a self-employed painter.

“He blamed his co-offenders for the conception, planning, and execution of the offence, although no reliable evidence of their relationship or extent of cooperation in relation to the offending has been provided to the court,” Justice Mossop said.

Kilani pleaded guilty and was convicted on charges of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception and dangerous driving.

He will be released from custody when his sentence is suspended in April 2025 if he signs a two-year good behaviour order.

Fares had been handed two years’ jail with one year non-parole. He can be released from March 2025. Faris was handed a two-year intensive corrections order, which is a community-based sentence.