Teen who planned Auckland terrorist attack targeting non-Muslims sentenced to prison

From the New Zealand Herald and iNews NZ

An Auckland teen who, after years of isolation and online radicalisation, took steps to plan a local terrorist attack that he hoped would kill 20 to 30 non-Muslims has been sentenced to two years and five months’ imprisonment.

The North Shore resident, now 21, sat in the dock in the High Court at Auckland today nodding as Justice Rebecca Edwards declined his lawyers’ request for home detention at the conclusion of the lengthy name suppression and sentencing hearing.

The judge pointed out that journal entries obtained by the police indicated that on three occasions the defendant had left his house intending to carry out attacks, including a time when he brought a kitchen knife to a hockey game but lost his nerve after encountering people who were nice to him.

“It was the kindness of strangers that stopped you that day,” the judge said. “But … you were well down the track of acting on your plan.”

Justice Edwards adjourned the defence’s application for permanent name suppression, which the Crown opposes, so that more evidence can be obtained before she makes a decision. He continues to have interim suppression in the meantime.  He’s now a convicted criminal; why not? Unless he has a small child whose future might be wrecked by it being known that daddy is a jihadi terrorist. 

At the time of the man’s arrest in September 2021, police found he had stored hundreds of videos related to ISIS  . . . also … diary entries in which he outlined his plans for a terror attack and his intent to kill multiple people in Auckland.

Justice Edwards told the court the material the defendant kept showed “the taking of human life in the most brutal and cruel ways. The fact that it was connected to a terrorist organisation makes it even worse. The nature of the material was of the worst type.” She said it showed the defendant’s active involvement.

“The distribution of materials glorifying violence and terrorism causes ruptures in our society. It sows fear and terror, and it risks persuading others to join in attacks. Downloading and storing this material creates demand for the generation of more material like it, and that ensures that the harm is ongoing.”

On the eve of his trial last November, the defendant admitted to threatening to kill, two charges of distributing objectionable publications and six counts of possessing objectionable material.

The defendant was arrested a week after the unrelated LynnMall terror attack in September 2021, after which he told an undercover police officer online that he wished to bring his own plans for an attack forward. The police officer was posing as an ISIS sympathiser.

Court documents show the defendant had also told the undercover officer in a message online that he wished to kill between 20 to 30 non-Muslims and that carrying out an attack in Auckland was plan B if he could not travel overseas to Syria. The documents state the man believed that recent terror attacks on non-Muslims were justified, and he had started planning an attack in Auckland targeting and killing non-Muslims.

Alongside the diary entries and videos, police found a list of 80 Auckland locations. The man had scouted for a possible attack – shopping malls, the airport, and cafes and restaurants. Police also found a “terror kit” the man had started to put together to commit the attack, containing camouflage clothing and two knives.

He came to the police’s attention in 2021 after following several ISIS supporters on social media and has been in custody since his arrest.

Justice Edwards said his time in prison had helped him to get back on track, and on eventual release, he hoped to live a normal life with a job.

She said he had expressed a willingness to meet a victim of the Christchurch terror attack. “What all this tells me is that there is real hope for you, and you are on the right path.”

The Christchurch attack was against Muslims. He needs to meet a victim of Islamic jihad.