James Waugh: Ex journalist sentenced over threats to behead Christians

A former Fairfax journalist has been sentenced in court following a campaign of death threats against Canberra Christians.

James Michael Waugh leaves the ACT Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to making threats to kill to members of two Canberra Churches. Picture: Craig Dunlop

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Former Fairfax journalist James Waugh has narrowly dodged spending more time behind bars following his campaign of intimidation against a group of Canberra new-age Christians.

Waugh, 29, on Wednesday fronted the ACT Magistrates Court and was sentenced to two years and six months jail, suspended after time served, having previously pleaded guilty to threatening to act with intent to cause public alarm.

Waugh, a former journalist with The Queanbeyan Age, describes himself as a “white nationalist Muslim” in 2018 moved into a rental property in the Canberra suburb of Griffith, and advertised for flatmates on a local Christian Facebook.

As his religious views became increasingly radical, Waugh began saying he wanted to become a martyr, and in early 2019 sent one of his Christian housemates a message saying “I pray you burn” and that he never wanted to hear about Christians “unless it’s a call to mass extermination by my Muslim bretheren”.

Waugh also threatened to “tear apart” and “hit back” against a woman who had romantically rebuffed him and said he would burn her house down.

James Michael Waugh (with bag over shoulder) leaves the ACT Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to threatening to kill groups of two Canberra Christian churches. Picture: Craig Dunlop

A local pastor, Simon Nixey, contacted police, only for Waugh to threaten to “hit back in self-defence”.

In one of his diatribes, Waugh described Christianity as a “child molesting religion” and said of his love interest: “I am going to cut her organs out of her and feed them to (his dog) Reg … she should be gutted like a f***ing dog”.

Following the March 2019 Christchurch shootings, Waugh said left a post on a church Facebook page saying he was going to “kill every single one of you polytheist c***s” in a reprisal attack.

He said he had purchased a scimitar from Pakistan and planned to “cut their heads off in my front yard as a reprisal”.

Since his release from jail, Waugh has been seeing a psychiatrist and has come to realise his views were bizarre, the court heard.

Last month he narrowly avoided being locked up again after skipping bail and going to Bundaberg, where he now plans to live.