Sydney teen terror accused wanted to attack ‘a bunch of Jews’, court told

May 1, 2024

From the Sydney Morning Herald and 9 News

An alleged terrorism conspirator who claimed to be mates with another teenager accused of stabbing a bishop during a live-streamed sermon will spend at least one more night in custody before learning whether he is granted bail. The 15-year-old on Friday became the sixth alleged associate of the 16-year-old accused stabber to be charged, but is the youngest to be facing a count of conspiring to prepare or plan a terrorist act, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if proven.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named, was already in custody when he was charged on Friday with conspiring to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.

He had earlier been arrested after allegedly throwing a wooden plank towards a worker at a bottle shop, Parramatta Children’s Court was told on Wednesday.

The boy’s lawyer Ahmed Dib tendered a bundle of documents including an affidavit from the boy’s mother, school report cards, and a psychological report. The material showed the boy had a history of behavioural issues, lacked confidence and had low self-esteem, Dib said as he argued exceptional circumstances should secure the teen’s release.

But prosecutor Rebekah Rodger said that was to be expected. “A young person with behavioural issues facing a terrorism accusation is not exceptional, it is rather the norm,” she said. The boy had been involved in an encrypted chat group titled “Plans” where he talked about targeting Jewish people, Rodger said

She said he had sent messages to a person after the church incident saying: “I know the bloke who done it, he’s my mate.”

On April 18, in a Signal chat entitled “Plans”, Rodger alleged the boy asked, “Where do youse want to do the [oath or allegiance to the leader]?” and “How long will all this planning take?”

The prosecutor said the boy, in a chat with an alleged co-conspirator on April 20, made comments including: “Want to do it to a bunch of Jews. I want to do something so bad”, “Don’t youse want to do an attack? The bloke is literally giving us money”, “What about Jews, brother? What about Palestine? We can attack Jews here” and “I’m so cut, I want to do it so bad”.

Rodger said the other person in the conversation talked about “stabbing c—s”.

On April 21, the prosecutor said the boy wrote, “I really want to do an attack now too because I have so much hated for these kufr, it’s not funny, I want to do Jihad now”. Rodger said kufr related to non-believers, and a reference was made in the conversation to “doing it in front of cameras”.

“The young person … says he wants to stab a person because he’s a f—ing kufr dog,”

She said two hand-drawn IS flags were found in the boy’s bedroom during a police raid on April 24, while a tomahawk and hunting knife were found in the garage. Rodger, in opposing bail, said the paramount consideration was community safety.

Dib said the discussions were “macho-type” and “it would not be outside of the realm of possibility” that it was a 15-year-old “trying to brag … about something that he has no connection to . . . This is not, in my respectful submission, an extremely strong prosecution case,”

However, no bail decision was made on Wednesday, due to late evidence from the defence regarding electronic monitoring, and an adjournment then sought by the prosecutor to respond and to provide information about the whereabouts of the boy’s passport. The case will return to court on Thursday.