Bourke St terrorist Hassan Khalif Shire Ali split with wife before plotting mass murder
THE terrorist who carried out the deadly Bourke St attack had split from his wife and become distanced from his family in the lead-up to the incident, it can be revealed. Somali-born Hassan Khalif Shire Ali also had drug and alcohol problems.
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THE terrorist who carried out the deadly Bourke St attack had split from his wife and become distanced from his family in the lead-up to the incident.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal Somali-born Hassan Khalif Shire Ali also had drug and alcohol problems and attended the Hume Islamic Council.
He is understood to have visited Somalia before his passport was cancelled in 2015.
Investigators are looking into what motivated the attack and if he had been in communication with other people about the Bourke St attack.
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Prison officers searched the cell of a person known to Shire Ali at dawn on Saturday.
No evidence was uncovered but the prisoner has now been moved to protection over fears his association with Shire Ali could make him a target.
A suppression order granted in an out-of-sessions Supreme Court hearing today prevents the Sunday Herald Sun from detailing some of Hassan Khalif Shire Ali’s past.
Friends arrived at the Werribee home with groceries on Sunday afternoon. They told the Herald Sun Mr Hassan‘s family was grieving.
“The family is in mourning,” a man who wished to remain anonymous said.
“They had four boys and two girls.”
“Now five left,” a female family friend added.
Faysal Shire, 35, worked with Mr Hassan’s father as a taxi driver and expressed shock at Friday’s tragedy.
“This is something bad for everyone,” he said.
“A father has died. People were injured.”
“I was shocked. I was completely shocked.”
Neighbours have spoken of how mayhem descended on their quiet suburban street as officers carried out a pre-dawn raid on a bungalow in which the terrorist had been living.
Police stormed the property in Meadow Heights about 3am Saturday, with one man saying he heard officers shouting “come out, come out”.
Another neighbour said Shire Ali had been living in the bungalow for about a year, but had mostly kept to himself.
He was seen with a woman and a young boy, with whom he occasionally went for walks at night.
The neighbour said they thought Shire Ali may have been a tradesman after spotting him with tools and a wheelbarrow in the back of a ute.
It is believed to have been the same vehicle used in the Bourke St attack. The vehicle was also seen regularly by other neighbours.
The owners of the home linked to the granny flat are believed to have rented it out in recent years, but they were not connected with Shire Ali.
Officers also raided a Werribee property, believed to be home to the attacker’s father.
Masked officers were seen standing guard outside the home as forensic police took photos and looked for items of interest inside the property.
Police also confirmed they had spoken to the terrorist’s wife.
“There were conversations there,” Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton said on Saturday.
Australian Federal Police acting Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said Shire Ali had been radicalised and had his passport cancelled in 2015 when he tried to go to Syria. But he was not being monitored.
He said the attack was linked to Islamic State, but he did not believe Shire Ali had actually been in contact with the extremist group.
“It’s fair to say he was inspired and he was radicalised,” Mr McCartney said. A key part of the investigation, he said, would be when, why and how long Shire Ali had been radicalised and planning such an attack.
Mr McCartney said that while police assessed Shire Ali had held radical views, they had concluded he “did not pose a threat to the national security environment”.
“The circumstances of how and when he moved from having radicalised views to carrying out this attack will be a key focus of the investigation,” he said.
“The full forces of the Commonwealth are being applied to this investigation.”
Shire Ali had prior convictions but not for violent offences.
His rap sheet included burglary, receiving stolen goods, possession and use of cannabis, speeding 147kmh in a 100kmh zone, and driving an unregistered vehicle.
He was sentenced in 2012 to a 12-month community order over the burglary and obtaining stolen goods charges, and was required to do 250 hours of unpaid community work and undergo regular drug testing and rehabilitation.
He breached the order and was resentenced to a two-year CCO and judicial monitoring for three months. But Shire Ali failed to front court to be monitored.
In 2014, he was found to be in breach of his CCO again, and he was sentenced to a two-month suspended jail-term and fined $1500.
It would be the last known time he appeared before the courts.
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Terrorist Hassan Khalif Shire Ali planned to kill many more people in Friday’s Bourke St attack.
Police believe the way the 30-year-old had packed gas cylinders into his Holden ute before setting a fire showed he aimed to cause mass casualties.
But his failure to build a more sophisticated bomb is believed to have spared many lives.
Police hope items, including computers and phones, seized during raids on Saturday will provide an insight into what motivated his actions.
The results of a toxicology report to see if Shire Ali had drugs and alcohol in his system is expected within days.
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Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton said the explosive device in Shire Ali’s ute was poorly prepared.
“It looks like there was some attempt to light a fire and some materials were there that he was planning to ignite,” Mr Ashton said.
“There were gas cylinders that had been turned to the open position. So it wasn’t anything remotely sophisticated, which was evidenced by the fact that it wasn’t effective.
“The car has basically just caught fire and the fire brigade was able to terminate the fire pretty quickly.”
Police from the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team — made up of officers from Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation — on Saturday raided houses at Werribee and Meadow Heights.
Police have increased patrols in the CBD and at major events following Friday’s attack.
“A lot of additional police are working in the CBD,” Mr Ashton said. “They are there for reassurance purposes to talk to the community. People will see additional police moving around.”
Mr Ashton said security assessments had been carried out ahead of Sunday’s Remembrance Day event at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Although there was no known threat, there would be more police on patrol at the event.
Somali community leader Ahmed Hassan, the director of outreach group Youth Activating Youth, said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their family and those injured by today’s tragic event.
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“We condemn this tragic event in the strongest of terms. There is no place for terrorism or extremism in our society,’’ Mr Hassan said.
“Somali Australians are peaceful people. Terrorism is a disease and scourge on society — we must do everything we can to ensure it is eradicated.”
Mr Ashton said the counter terrorism investigation was ongoing.
“There are a couple of search warrants underway,” he said.
“They will continue for some time. It is a full forensic search. We have been seizing items so they will be subject to investigation by the joint counter terrorism team.
“There could be further warrants based on that and based on investigations which are being conducted at the moment.”