Driver sentenced to prison after faking a car accident in attempted $130,000 insurance fraud

A Canberra man has been sentenced to prison for faking a car accident in order to obtain a large insurance payout.

ACT Supreme Court documents show that in 2020, Adam Hasan Kilani intentionally crashed his BMW convertible into another car to recover more than $130,000 for which his vehicle was “over-insured”.

Kilani pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by fraud and a count of dangerous driving.

The action took place on a suburban street

In 2020, Kilani crashed his car into an Audi belonging to accomplices Rabea Fares (48) and his wife Lina Faris (44) on Eucumbene Drive in Duffy.

The accident occurred on a straight section of this road, in broad daylight, around 4 p.m.

Fares and Faris were sentenced to two years in prison by the ACT Supreme Court earlier this year after a jury found them guilty of insurance fraud.

Faris avoided a prison sentence and was instead allowed to serve her sentence in the community.

In the version of events first reported by Kilani, he told police that his sister was driving and he was a passenger.

Kilani also said the Audi was in motion at the time of the collision, but an expert later denied this, saying the car was stationary at the time of the incident.

In a judgment published this week, acting chief justice David Mossop described Kilani’s vehicle as “significantly over-insured.”

It was purchased by Kilani for $25,000 about a year before the crash and was insured for an agreed value of $132,100.

Third-party pricing data indicates that the price of a vehicle of this model and year ranges from $32,000 to $42,000, as stated in the judgment of the Acting Chief Justice.

Kilani submitted a claim to insurers the day after the incident.

Kilani also initially said he did not know the people in the vehicle he hit.

However, call logs and text messages showed he and Fares knew each other, had done some painting work together and had spoken on the phone in the hours before the accident.

Jail sentence imposed

In his judgment, acting Chief Justice Mossop described the disaster as “largely planned”.

He said Kilani’s version of events, that the car crash was real, was “vague and unlikely.”

He said their plan also involved diverting emergency services resources and was intended to undermine the motor vehicle insurance system by submitting false claims.

Court documents showed Kilani tried to minimize his involvement in the incident, but the judge said he could not attach any weight to that argument.

Acting Chief Justice David sentenced Kilani to 17 months in prison from August this year, suspended after eight months after he posted a two-year good behavior bond.