Queanbeyan stabbing: Mother declares her son ‘is not a terrorist’ after he is charged with murder
UPDATE: THE mother of a teenage boy charged with murdering Queanbeyan service station attendant Zeeshan Akbar has declared her son “is not a terrorist”. He and another boy will remain behind bars after formally being refused bail today.
NSW
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THE mother of a teenage boy charged with a murdering a man at a Queanbeyan service station has declared her son “is not a terrorist”.
The 16-year-old boy, along with a 15-year-old alleged accomplice, was arrested as part of the investigation into the stabbing murder of a 29-year-old service station employee in Queanbeyan on Thursday night.
The teenagers were arrested on the Monaro Highway in the ACT and taken to the ACT Watch House.
They appeared at a children’s court this morning, when Joint Counter Terrorism Team members and Homicide detectives successfully applied for their extradition to NSW.
The teenagers were conveyed to Queanbeyan Police Station and have been formally charged with murder, robbery, wounding with intent, aggravated enter dwelling with intent and aggravated take and drive conveyance.
The older boy was also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Today, the pair did not apply for bail via video link and it was formally refused by the magistrate at the Parramatta Children’s Court, ahead of their next court appearance in the same court on April 11.
The murder of service station attendant Zeeshan Akbar, 29, is being treated as a possible terrorist act after the letters “IS” were found scrawled in blood at the scene.
The mother of one of the boys sobbed into the shoulder of his aunt during the son’s court appearance in the ACT yesterday morning, yelling “love you bud” as he was taken away into custody.
“Chin up, mate,” the aunt said as the teen was led away by court officers.
“He’s not a terrorist,” the mother said.
The boys are expected to be transported to Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre following their NSW court appearance in the coming days, where they would be housed with other teen terror suspects in general population.
Public Service Association president Stewart Little said it was further evidence the government needed to build a “Supermax-style facility” to house teen terror accused.
“Again, this is why you need a purpose-built facility for these people and you need to have appropriate training and programs to deal with them,” Mr Little said.
“At the moment (the accused) are at the highest risk because they haven’t been properly classified.
“If they were adult offenders, they would go straight to Supermax in Goulburn.”
Mr Akbar, who had moved to Australia from Pakistan a few years ago in search of a better life, wasn’t supposed to be working that night but had taken the shift to earn some extra money to send to his family in Karachi.
His death was one in a series of violent incidents police allege were committed by the two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, in the NSW town just outside Canberra.
Police have also learnt the elder teen is alleged to have ranted to his mother about Islamic State and killing a nonbeliever shortly before he and his accomplice allegedly went on their rampage in NSW and the ACT.
Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said that there was enough evidence to suspect that one of the boys “may be related to terrorism”.
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