Alleged terrorist struggled with going to store for milk, court hears
A FORGETFUL terror accused couldn’t even be sent to the shop to purchase one bottle of milk without calling his family to ask what he was meant to be buying, a court has heard.
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A FORGETFUL “fish brain” terror accused couldn’t even be sent to the shop for milk without calling his family to ask what he was meant to be buying, a court has heard.
Hamza Abbas’s sister Nabila told a Supreme Court jury how she was “shocked” to find her brother who struggled with simple life tasks was on trial charged with planning a terrorist act.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE TERROR TRIAL:
TERRORIST ACCUSED GOADED POLICE, COURT TOLD
IBRAHIM ABBAS PROUD OF ‘TERRORIST’ LABEL
SECRET RECORDINGS REVEAL ABBAS MOCKED AUTHORITIES
Ms Abbas, 31, relayed how her brother once had to call home twice from the supermarket across the road as he had forgot his mother’s shopping list.
“All she wanted was a bottle of milk, nothing else, nothing more, just milk,” Ms Abbas said.
“Hamza’s always had a pretty bad memory. We’ve had to repeat things to him many, many times before he understood what we wanted of him.
“His concentration is not that great.”
She said his own description to police of himself as having a “fish brain” was accurate.
Mr Abbas, 23, alongside his cousin Abdullah Chaarani, 27, and friend Ahmed Mohamed, 25, are on trial for plotting to stage a large-scale terrorist attack in Melbourne’s CBD.
The jury has heard the men allegedly bought bomb-making material, large hunting knives and cased out areas around St Paul’s Cathedral just before Christmas 2016.
All three men have pleaded not guilty.
Ms Abbas defended her brother, saying he was the most loving person she knew.
“I’m shocked that he’s here today,” she said. “It’s the last place I ever expected my brother to be, simply because of his loving, sweet nature.”
Ms Abbas was questioned about why Hamza sent her a photo via text of their cousin, Melbourne jihadi Nabil Abbas’s corpse, killed after joining Islamic State extremists in the Middle East.
She said she asked him to send it to her as she was curious to see if it was really him.
“There were rumours going around that the person in the picture was not Nabil,” she said.
Ms Abbas was the sole defence witness called, and the last evidence to be heard by the jury.
The jury had earlier heard from Hamza’s brother, Ibrahim Abbas, who was a co-accused and has pleaded guilty to planning a terror attack.
Ibrahim Abbas, 24, said he wanted to stage an attack for Australia’s involvement in the war on Islamic State and had worked to convince his co-accused to join the fight.
“My goals were to cause as much chaos, destruction, fear, bloodshed. That was my goal,” Ibrahim Abbas told police.
Jurors are not likely to start deliberations for at least a week, with closing arguments and the judge’s charge still to come.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
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