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Brighton gunman and acquitted Holsworthy plotter Yacqub Khayre was a lonely al-Shabaab reject

SOON after arriving from war-torn Somalia Yacqub Khayre became one of the “Lost Ones” — the term for troubled youth who can’t adjust to Australian life. On Monday his descent into terror was complete.

HE arrived in our country from war-torn Somalia aged seven, picked up English quickly and had a bright future.

Then he became one of the “Lost Ones” — the Somali term for troubled young males who can’t adjust to Australian life.

Yacqub Khayre dropped out of high school in Year 12, converted to Islam and became so radicalised he would travel back to his home country to seek a fatwa so he and his friends could become martyrs.

Melbourne siege gunman Yacqub Khayre shortly after arriving in Australia from Somalia. Picture: Supplied
Melbourne siege gunman Yacqub Khayre shortly after arriving in Australia from Somalia. Picture: Supplied

Acquitted in 2010 of his role in planning a suicide attack on Sydney’s Holsworthy army base, the 29-year-old loner was abandoned by his family.

His community in Melbourne would follow.

An addiction to methamphetamine would turn him into a deranged criminal with a long rap sheet of drug-fuelled crimes like burglary and assault that would lead to time behind bars.

Yet he was considered “low risk” by police — who had taken their eyes off him. It was a chillingly similar story to a fellow serial reject and refugee, the Lindt Cafe siege gunman Man Monis.

Yacqub Khayre, pictured at age 12, struggled to adjust to Australian life
Yacqub Khayre, pictured at age 12, struggled to adjust to Australian life
Yacqub Khayre was shot dead in Melbourne following a terror attack. Picture: AAP/Julian Smith
Yacqub Khayre was shot dead in Melbourne following a terror attack. Picture: AAP/Julian Smith

Like Monis did with the Lindt siege, Khayre virtually came from nowhere on Monday night to kill an innocent motel worker and wound three police officers in what has been claimed as an IS-inspired strike.

And like Monis, he was free when he should have been locked up. Monis was on bail for murder and sexual assaults, Khayre was on parole after serving a minimum three-year term for a violent home invasion in 2012. It can today also be revealed by The Daily Telegraph that Khayre committed serious crimes on bail and was believed to be beyond rehabilitation.

“The judicial process was f ... ed,” a leading counter-terrorism official said yesterday.

Illustration of Yacqub Khayre during a past court appearance in Melbourne.
Illustration of Yacqub Khayre during a past court appearance in Melbourne.
Khayre showed similarities with Sydney Lindt siege terrorist Man Monis.
Khayre showed similarities with Sydney Lindt siege terrorist Man Monis.

Police were said to be “gutted” when Khayre was found not guilty by the Victorian Supreme Court jury of being part of a homegrown jihadi group conspiring to kill up to 500 soldiers and civilians at Holsworthy barracks.

Three of his four co-accused, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Saney Edow Aweys, and Nayef El Sayed were convicted and received 18-year jail terms. Another man was also acquitted.

When he was logged flying out of Melbourne for Somalia on April 13, 2009, Khayre was already well known to police. Between 2007 and 2011, the ice addict was jailed three times for multiple assaults, burglaries, thefts, speeding, attempted robbery, possessing amphetamines and stabbing a man on a train.

An aerial view of Holsworthy Army Barracks.
An aerial view of Holsworthy Army Barracks.

One of five brothers and sisters, he came to Australia at the age of seven with his grandparents from war-torn Mogadishu. His community said he was one of the “Lost Ones”, a translation of a Somali term for young men who have difficulty in adjusting to Australian life.

Khayre later told police that converting to Islam saved his life. Carrying his Koran, he began praying at Preston Mosque before moving to the controversial 8 Blacks prayer centre in North Melbourne where he met his co-accused.

The centre was under surveillance and infiltrated by an undercover officer and through Operation Neath every moment of their planning between February and August 2009 to attack Holsworthy with military firearms was watched.

Police officers help the coroner remove a body following the deadly Brighton siege. Picture: AFP
Police officers help the coroner remove a body following the deadly Brighton siege. Picture: AFP

Khayre’s job was to go to Somalia and seek a fatwa from a sheik which would lend credibility to their cause and ensure they became martyrs.

He travelled through Nairobi and the court heard that in Somalia, he was placed in a militant “training camp’’, fled from it, was captured and fled again.

Forensic police hold an evidence bag which reads 'Hard covered book with Arabic writing' taken from an apartment in Melbourne. Picture: AAP
Forensic police hold an evidence bag which reads 'Hard covered book with Arabic writing' taken from an apartment in Melbourne. Picture: AAP

In an intercepted phone call, a Somali militant told Aweys that Khayre was “empty-headed and wandering around’’ and “a risk to you, us and the whole thing’’.

Khayre returned in July to tell co-conspirators he had been given a “go-ahead’’ by “the biggest sheik there”.

It would have been the deadliest attack on Australian soil, but the five were arrested in August 2009.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/brighton-gunman-and-acquitted-holsworthy-plotter-yacqub-khayre-was-a-lonely-alshabab-reject/news-story/35461abd57c8968397d3f0a1c41463a2