Accused posted images of cops’ executions days before Curtis Cheng shot: Court
Mustafa Dirani posted images online of police officers being executed just days before Curtis Cheng was shot, a court has heard.
NSW
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A man who allegedly conspired in the plot to kill NSW police employee Curtis Cheng posted images online of police officers being executed just days before Mr Cheng was shot, a court has heard.
Mustafa Dirani allegedly posted the images - that appear to show guns being held to the heads of police - in a private WhatsApp chat group, in posts dated September 30, 2015, the Downing Centre Local Court heard today.
Mr Cheng was shot dead by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar outside the Parramatta headquarters of NSW Police on October 2, 2015.
The chat group, called ‘the Bricks’ was allegedly used by Dirani, 23, and his alleged co-conspirators Milad Atai, 21, and Raban Alou, 19, and images of Islamic State banners and propaganda material were also posted to the group.
Dirani, Atai, and Alou are accused of conspiring in the terror plot, while Talal Alameddine, 24, is alleged to have acquired and supplied the pistol used by Jabar.
Crown prosecutor Paul McGuire SC told a committal hearing on Tuesday that Dirani, Atai and Alou were members of the private WhatsApp chat forum where pro-Islamic State images and discussions were posted.
In June 2015, Alou allegedly wrote on the forum: “Beheading in France, 25 dead in a suicide bomb by Islamic State in shia Kuwait mosque and 37 dead at Tunisia beach”, followed by “it’s going off” and “lol”.
The court was shown a video that Dirani allegedly posted of himself addressing “all the pigs out there” and threatening “we’re coming for you”. Mr McGuire also showed the court photos allegedly posted by Atai in June 2015 of what appeared to be military personnel and a response allegedly by Alou saying: “May Allah curse them all and destroy them to pieces.”
Mr McGuire said the Bricks forum fell silent the day before Mr Cheng was shot and chat only resumed three days after the killing.
He said there was “some relevance to the silence between the conspirators”.
He also said there was evidence that after Mr Cheng was shot, Atai admitted to undercover police officers that he’d sworn an oath of allegiance to Islamic State.
The hearing continues.
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