Terror teen trial dismissed with hung jury, as new details emerge about his friend
A JURY has failed to come to a verdict on a teenager accused of planning for a terror attack involving lethal bayonet knives days after they unanimously found his friend guilty of preparing for someone to be murdered or injured in the name of ISIS.
NSW
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A JURY has failed to come to a verdict on a teenager accused of planning for a terror attack involving lethal bayonet knives days after they unanimously found his friend guilty of preparing for someone to be murdered or injured in the name of ISIS.
After eight days of deliberating the 12-person jury was today discharged after it couldn’t reach a decision on whether 18-year-old “AB” planned for an Islamic State inspired attack.
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His friend, “XY”, who is the stepson of a convicted terrorist, remained silent and expressionless when he was found guilty on Monday following the NSW Supreme Court trial.
The Daily Telegraph can now tell the full story about the extent of XY’s radicalisation after he came onto the radar of counter terrorism authorities at just age 12.
That includes that, while handcuffed and furious in 2016 after his terror plot was foiled by police, he told them: “We’re going to rule this land by sharia” and “Your whole government will be destroyed one day by Allah”.
XY left his phone at home to go undetected by authorities when he travelled to the Bankstown Gun Shop and bought two M9 bayonets, while AB allegedly waited outside on October 12, 2016.
Undercover officers were watching and arrested the pair a short time later after they caught the bus to the Bankstown public Islamic prayer hall.
Along with the weapons, police also found a note pledging allegiance to the caliphate.
The court heard XY told police: “You’re all pigs. Look at you like lambs to the slaughter. You’ll all die in hellfire at hands of Allah.”
But what the jury didn’t hear was a recording of him abusing officers while he was sitting handcuffed in Adnum Lane following the arrest, which was played at an earlier bail hearing.
“Anyone who works with the pigs, with the, ah, police, ah, is an apostate dog,” he said.
He later threatened: “So whatever youse do, you bunch of pigs, youse will never prevail over Islam.”
“Islam is going to take over youse. And inshallah, Islam, we’re going to, he’s going to take all the kuffar’s wife and children as slaves all right?
And he threatened that “disbelievers” would be “destroyed and demolished”.
The jury also didn’t hear that in 2015 XY was recorded bragging to his mother about doing something “bigger” days after the murder of Curtis Cheng.
“When they come, I am going to do something to them that they have never seen before. I am going to do something bigger,” he said in a recorded conversation days after schoolboy Farhad Jabar carried out the brutal shooting.
XY was also pictured holding a poster at just age 12 at the Hyde Park riots saying “Behead all those who insult the prophet”.
During the trial the jury was told to consider the evidence against both boys completely separately. None of the evidence about XY was relevant to determining whether AB’s charges should be upheld..
AB’s barrister James Trevallion told the jury there was nothing in the AB’s search history in the months leading up to his arrest pointing to support for ISIS.
His internet search history included UFC and pornography and school work, the court heard.
Mr Trevallion said a bail application for his client would be made at a future date.
The state will now have to consider whether to retry AB, while XY will be sentenced at a later date.
Both matters are listed for direction on September 13.