Accused terror bride Alo-Bridget Namoa wrote chilling letters to husband Sameh Bayda
A TEEN Islamic bride accused of planning a terror- inspired act with her husband wrote a love letter to her “booboo” declaring “they can’t break us up” after his arrest, a court has heard.
NSW
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A TEEN Islamic bride accused of planning a terror-inspired act with her husband wrote a love letter to her “booboo” declaring “they can’t break us up” after his arrest, a court has heard.
Sameh Bayda and Alo-Bridget Namoa, both 21, are on trial before the NSW Supreme Court each accused of conspiring to do an act in preparation for a terrorist act involving detonating an improvised explosive device, an incendiary device, or using a bladed weapon.
In his opening address, Crown Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson QC revealed to a jury that police had found a neat handwritten note, which was unsigned, at Bayda’s home after they arrested him in January 2016.
He said the Crown would allege that Namoa, who was arrested later, wrote it promising to never give evidence against her husband.
The court heard that it started with: “Msg to my big booboo”.
“I never realised the true value of having a best friend until you became mine,” the letter says. “How can these people make me go against my own husband? why would I want to hurt the one I love most.” It later says: “OK fine let them have their shit laws, but I won’t bargain with them.”
“ … Allah is my legislator and I don’t follow their corrupt laws.”
Mr Robinson said that it also included a line saying that “I’d rather a bullet between my eyes” than to go against him.
Mr Robinson alleged the letter showed “she knew she would implicate them both” if she were to speak of what she knew. “She confirms in the letter she is going to stand by him and their extreme views,” he said.
But Bayda’s lawyer said the letter was found in early February and her client was not initially charged with conspiring to prepare for a terror act when he was arrested on January 25. He was only charged in relation to items on his phone.
She said there was an intense infatuation between the two of them which eventually led to an Islamic wedding ceremony in late 2015.
Mr Robinson said Bayda had accessed a large amount of Islamic State material including video of graphic executions and a document advising the “perfect place to kill” by stabbing.
Namoa had English language documents consistent with Islamic extremism and numerous videos from IS or “those with similar views”, Mr Robinson said.
But Namoa’s lawyer Chris O’Donnell said it was relevant whether the metadata actually showed if Namoa and Bayda had actually opened material found on their phones.
The trial before Justice Desmond Fagan continues.