Terror police probe 14-year-old arrested after University of Sydney stabbing as CCTV emerges of boy dressed in camouflage

Footage has emerged of the 14-year-old boy arrested after allegedly stabbing a man at the University of Sydney dressed in full-body camouflaged. Police say the attack was ‘not religiously motivated’.

CCTV footage of a 14- year-old arrested over the alleged stabbing of a 22-year-old at Sydney University.

Terror police are probing the ideology and activities of a 14-year-old boy arrested after allegedly stabbing a man at the University of Sydney, but say the attack was “not religiously motivated”.

NSW Police assistant commissioner Mark Walton said that the alleged perpetrator was known to both police and government agencies, and was undergoing a mental health assessment. He has not been charged.

The Inner West teenager was previously charged with attempting to carry out an alleged “Christchurch-style attack” at a school, but the case was dismissed on mental-health grounds, according to reports.

The boy allegedly stabbed the 22-year-old man with a kitchen knife on Tuesday morning, leaving him with a single wound to the neck. The student, an Australian national, is in a stable condition at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

CCTV footage shows the alleged perpetrator on Camperdown’s Missenden Road following the alleged attack, which leads to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

He can be seen dressed in full-body camouflage with a broad brim camouflage hat and black boots.

He appears to be clutching his hand in the footage, which police claim was injured during the alleged stabbing.

Police later arrested the teenager after he allegedly confessed to hospital staff upon presenting at the Prince Alfred.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Daily Telegraph reported that the teen had been charged with planning a terror attack last September, which was later dismissed in the Children’s Court in February, before he was put into a government-run deradicalisation program.

Assistant Commissioner Walton said the teenager’s motive was unclear, although it was not religiously motivated nor a targeting of the Jewish community, and any ideology was likely “mixed”, describing it as a “salad bar”.

Police at the scene of the alleged stabbing on the grounds of Sydney University at Camperdown. Picture: Richard Dobson

“A lot of vulnerable people are not linked to one particular ideology, they move as they’re exposed to different things,” he said, declining to reveal specific details of the investigation into the incident.

“It might be a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, they can easily flip into a religious ideation – it’s a very complex environment … it’s not a linear position where we can respond to one particular ideology.”

Although not speaking specifically about the ongoing investigation, assistant commissioner Walton appeared to suggest online radicalisation could be at play, slamming tech giants for allowing their platforms to become bedrocks of extremism.

“(We have) concerns about youth being radicalised online, they are embracing violent ideologies and moving towards violence,” he said.

“The internet is a toxic environment … we should be investing to make it safe for everyone, especially young people.

“We know that (online radicalisation) is a risk to the community, we know people should be enlivened, that parents should have an appreciation of what their kids are looking at online, and try to put some controls in or reach out if they’re concerned.”

On Thursday, a 19-year-old was charged with a terror offence in a separate incident, who alleged he had become radicalised on chat platform Telegram.

Assistant commissioner Walton said the two incidents were not linked but may have been “influenced” in some way, adding that vulnerable young people risked looking for a way to identify online and “fall into extremism”.

NSW Police said that a male boarded a bus on Parramatta road after the incident and shortly afterwards.

Police said neither person is believed to have known the other, nor was there any link between the stabbing and the now-defunct pro-Palestine encampment that occupied parts of the University of Sydney campus in weeks prior.

The teenager was wearing an army-style camouflage uniform, with police investigating if he had contact with extremists groups, but did not believe the teenager was formally associated with the cadets or military.

A University of Sydney spokeswoman said “several buildings have been placed on secure mode” as a precautionary measure.

“There may be an increased security and police presence on campus while investigations continue,” a spokeswoman said.

“The safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and members of the community is our priority, and we continue to work with authorities.”