Teen accused over Riverland ‘school massacre plot’ kept diaries of his plans for carnage, court told

ONE of the youths accused of plotting a massacre at a Riverland high school kept a diary of his murderous plans dating back to 2015 and is too dangerous to be released on bail, an Adelaide court has been told.

The two people accused of the Riverland high school plot

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ONE of the youths accused of plotting to massacre students and staff at a Riverland high school kept a diary of his murderous plans dating back to 2015 and is too dangerous to be released on bail, a prosecutor has told an Adelaide court.

The 19-year-old — the elder of two youths charged over the alleged massacre plot — applied for bail in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after his 16-year-old co-accused was told they would both be tried as adults.

Prosecutor Tegan Mullan urged the magistrate to refuse the bail application, saying he had mental health issues, was “obsessed with school shootings”, and had threatened many people with detailed descriptions of his plans for carnage.

She said he and his co-accused had “discussed burning down, shooting up and blowing up” the targeted school — conversations the teenager’s counsel dismissed as “fantasies, not reality” and “all talk”.

The defence lawyer urged her client be released, calling him a troubled boy who was “crying out for help” that he could not receive while incarcerated at Yatala Labour Prison.

Ms Mullan opposed the 19-year-old’s release under any circumstances.

She said it was likely the charge against him would be upgraded from solicit to murder to the more serious offence of conspiracy to murder.

Ms Mullan said the case centred on several key pieces of evidence.

“There are conversations between this accused and the co-accused where they discuss blowing up the school, shooting up the school, blowing things up, making weapons and obtaining firearms,” she said.

“They talked about how they were serious about dying (and) about the 16-year-old being paid some money and, once that occurred, him being able to obtain firearms.

“There are also messages from the co-accused about his attempts to source firearms from a witness to commit this plan.”

She said a search of the 19-year-old’s home by police had also yielded significant evidence.

“Officers found logbooks of handwritten notations of serious intentions to live up to this plan ... they dated from 2015 through to 2017,” she said.

“Those entries highlight ... our concern that he might be provided with further motivation for offending.”

Ms Mullan said the 19-year-old’s computer was also of concern.

“He had an interest in, and obsession with, various high school shootings,” she said.

“There was various material recorded where he spoke about school shootings.”

She said that, upon his arrest, a psychiatrist had assessed the 19-year-old as being “at high risk” of reoffending.

Nikki Conley, for the 19-year-old, said the prosecution case had to be looked at “in its proper context”.

She said her client’s comments over the years, to many members of the Riverland community, meant his “dark fantasies” were well-known and the subject of town gossip.

“When looking at this case as a whole, if someone was really, genuinely planning a high school schooling and carrying it out, would they tell everyone in the town about it?” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense. This is a teenager who was troubled and crying out for help ... it’s a fantasy, not reality.”

Ms Conley said her client had been bullied “physically and emotionally” since the age of 14, when he first started “keeping diaries”.

“He struggled to make friends and fit in, and the diaries that police have seized display dark themes and ideas which were really a way of him venting to cope with his environment,” she said.

“It was never anything he intended to act on, it was not something that was serious ... it was all talk. He was extremely troubled by these thoughts and he wanted to stop them, but they remained vivid.”

Magistrate Greg Fisher said he could not begin to consider the bail application without a comprehensive assessment of the 19-year-old’s mental health and an expert analysis of any risk posed by his release.

He adjourned the hearing and remanded the 19-year-old in custody until June for the preparation of expert reports.

Youths to be jointly tried as adults

On Wednesday morning, prosecutors told the Youth Court they wanted the younger of the alleged plotters moved into the adult jurisdiction.

They said they would file a new set of charges with the Adelaide Magistrates Court, jointly charging him and his alleged co-conspirator with soliciting to murder.

If convicted, the duo face maximum prison terms of life.

The duo have yet to plead to a raft of offences including possession of weapons, explosives and illegal body armour.

Previously, prosecutors have alleged the duo “encouraged and persuaded” each other to devise a plan to murder students and staff at a Riverland high school before the end of 2017.

They claim the youths went from planning to preparing their weapons over the space of just four days.

They were allegedly determined to “kill as many people as possible” with their arsenal of machetes, knives and small hand blades called “bear claws”.

Prosecutors further allege the duo were taking steps to obtain firearms and had made their own molotov cocktails and “poor man’s napalm”.

They duo allegedly tested their creations on Halloween night, in a car park near the target school.

The 16-year-old has previously been denied bail, with prosecutors warning the youngest is “extremely likely” to try and carry out the attack if released.

On Wednesday, Youth Court Magistrate Luke Davis remanded the 16-year-old in custody to face the Magistrates Court on the solicit to murder charge in two weeks.

Mr Davis further ordered the teenager return to the Youth Court for his other alleged offences in June.

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