SA Police have dropped charges against an 18-year-old computer whiz who had been accused of making shocking threats against Glenunga International High School
The Advertiser has learned why charges were dropped against an 18-year-old computer whiz accused of making shocking threats to Glenunga International High School.
SA Police have dropped charges against an 18-year-old computer whiz who had been accused of making shocking threats against the state’s largest public school, after his seized devices showed no evidence of him sending the messages, his lawyer says.
The teenager, whose identity is suppressed, was arrested in May following what Premier Peter Malinauskas called one of the state’s most significant police operations – a lengthy investigation involving more than 100 local officers, ASIO and the AFP.
At the time, police alleged he threatened to kill attendees at the Adelaide Fringe and Gather Round, and to attack staff and students at Glenunga International High School with knives, bombs and boiling oil.
The school received a series of threatening emails between November 2024 and February 2025.
The teen had been charged with two counts of blackmail and one count of making it appear goods had been, or were about to be, contaminated.
It was also alleged that within emails he called himself “the prophet of justice” and demanded $23 million in exchange for not carrying out the threats.
However, all charges were dropped this week.
The teen’s lawyer, James Caldicott of Caldicott and Isaacs Lawyers, said the charges were always “speculative” and made before the teenager’s devices had been fully explored.
He said the prosecution never provided a brief of evidence and the arrests appeared based on inferences merely from an IP address and some keywords in the emails.
“They took all the equipment in May, and now they have come back having looked at it, and dropped the charges because of a lack of evidence,” he said.
Mr Caldicott understood SA Police were still examining some of the remaining seized devices.
It comes after a bail hearing on July 18, when the prosecution warned the court the investigation could take up to a year and that a trial was potentially three years away.
The prosecution had alleged the teen’s Google Drive revealed concerning internet searches, but a search of his home uncovered no evidence of the kind described in the alleged email threats.
The court granted bail with strict conditions, including participation in intervention programs, counselling and courses addressing radicalisation, terrorism and violent behaviour, and released him from the Adelaide Remand Centre.
Mr Caldicott said his client had been traumatised by the ordeal, including the two months he spent in custody at the centre.
He expressed concern that Premier Peter Malinauskas had publicly praised detectives for putting themselves “in harm’s way” when his client was first charged in May.
In response to the charges being dropped, SA Police said in a statement:
“SAPOL has no comment on the court development. The investigation remains active and ongoing. Security will remain at Glenunga International School at the present level.”
A spokesman for Mr Malinauskas said: “The men and women of SAPOL have the government’s full support as they continue this ongoing and active investigation.”
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Originally published as SA Police have dropped charges against an 18-year-old computer whiz who had been accused of making shocking threats against Glenunga International High School
