Adelaide girl sentenced for downloading Islamic State terror videos, bomb-making instructions
A young Adelaide teen girl has been sentenced after her brother found “graphic” videos on her school laptop.
Police & Courts
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A teenage girl who downloaded Islamic State propaganda and other extremist videos on to her phone and school-issued laptop has avoided prison.
The 15-year-old from Adelaide’s south, who cannot legally be identified, on Thursday faced the Adelaide Youth Court, where a magistrate sentenced her to family conference diversion, which allows those under 18 to take responsibility for the offending without getting a criminal record.
The girl earlier pleaded guilty to possessing a document or record of information for a terrorist act and to possessing extremist material without reasonable excuse.
The teen was arrested by counter-terrorism police in March last year after her brother found concerning videos on her mobile phone. She was 14 at the time.
Police and detectives seized her phone and later, when they attended her home, her school-issued laptop.
She was found to be in possession of 19 videos across both devices, six of which were on her mobile and included propaganda for the Islamic State as well as Hamas.
“One of the six videos depicts a person suspected of being a supporter of Islamic State, dressed in military attire, providing instructions on how one might manufacture an explosive device,” Magistrate Kate Hodder said of the 15-minute video.
“An assessment of the contents of the laptop revealed other videos, which are extremist material as similar in nature to those found on (her) phone.”
“The content ranges from glorifying Islamic State or attempting to recruit people, encouraging killing infidels and others to depicting graphic and horrifically violent acts.”
Ms Hodder said the young girl had an “interest in war in particular parts of the world” and Muslim Nasheed, which the court heard is a “form of spoken musical chants based on Islamic belief”.
The court heard that in 2023, she started to “connect with her religion more” and her searches for Nasheeds led her to sites including the Islamic State’s media wing Al-Hayat Media Center.
“The Nasheeds are typically overlaid on the propaganda and recruitment videos of this nature,” the magistrate said.
While she did understand she was downloading materials related to a terrorist organisation and knew the video was about how to make a bomb, she did not “fully appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions”, the court heard.
The court heard the teen was “not interested in Islamic State or ISIS” and had repeatedly stated she did not hold terrorist views or agree with their ideology.
A report from a clinical psychologist described her as a “young, naive Muslim girl with autism”.
In sentencing, Ms Hodder said she had taken into account her young age, lack of other criminal offending, compliance with bail and engagement with youth justice and inclusion support programs.
“It is accepted (she) was not motivated by extremist intention,” she said.
Ms Hodder ordered forfeiture of the phone and the school laptop.
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