Teenage stabbing accused ‘rightly charged with terror’: AFP

A 16-year-old boy, who allegedly stabbed a Sydney bishop, is unlikely to have been acting completely alone and may have carried out the attack during a livestream for added impact, terrorism experts say.

The 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley with a bandaged hand. Picture: Twitter

A 16-year-old boy, who travelled 90 minutes from his home to allegedly stab a high-profile southwest Sydney bishop several times with a flick-knife is unlikely to have been acting alone and may have attacked during a livestream for added ­impact, terrorism experts say.

Counter-terrorism police have charged the teenager with a federal terrorism offence for his alleged attack on Assyrian Christian orthodox leader Mar Mari Emmanuel.

This means police must believe the teenager was inspired by a group such as Islamic State, al-Qa’ida or similar, and the teenager must have believed he was doing it to “further a cause”, terrorism ­expert Greg Barton said.

According to witnesses and footage from the sermon shared widely online, the teenager allegedly entered the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley about 7.10pm on Monday, walked directly up to where Bishop Emmanuel was delivering his sermon as though he was “kissing the cross”, before quickly pulling his hand out of his pocket and stabbing the bishop in the head.

He allegedly continued the ­attack after Bishop Emmanuel fell over, stabbing him six times.

Senior parish priest Isaac Royel also sustained cuts and a shoulder wound when he tried to intervene, police allege.

The teenage attacker at the church in Wakeley.

The teen’s defence barrister Greg Scragg told Parramatta Children’s Court on Friday that he had a “long history of behaviour consistent with suffering from mental illness”. He said the boy’s parents thought their son should be seen by a treating psychologist as soon as possible to assess what treatment he required.

The teenager is on police guard in hospital recovering from injuries allegedly obtained during the attack. His flick-knife closed on his hand, severing at least one finger, a witness alleged.

In a video of the incident, the boy allegedly says, in Arabic, that he “wouldn’t be here” if the bishop – who has criticised Islam – hadn’t “offended his prophet”.

An audio message recorded by a local leader that identified the boy said his views had been “poisoned”. The boy’s family, however, had seen no signs of radicalisation and did not believe anyone was “brainwashing” their son.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said police examined several electronic devices they had seized from his home in the day after the attack.

“We allege the act committed meets the definition (of a terrorist act) for reasons outlined in a statement of facts. But I won’t go into them today,” Mr Kershaw said.

Professor Barton said terrorism offences are about “more than just personal animus” and are ideologically-inspired so that perpetrators are “trying to change the system”.

“In this case, it means (police) think this 16-year-old was inspired by a group like IS or al-Qa’ida or similar,” he said.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel giving a sermon in late February.

“The accused 16 year-old travelled an hour-and-a-half … It begs the question, who put him up to this, are they in Sydney or on the other side of the world, are they communicating through social media … It’s not just one individual doing something reprehensible, it’s a ­social network formed around the idea that they are changing the world.”

He said, based on what we know about “lone actors”, it was unlikely the accused was acting on his own. “We might think a teenager who is watching videos online is vulnerable … but a bad thing usually happens when someone is befriending them, persuading them.”

The Deakin University Professor said he does not know the individual reasoning behind the alleged attack but acknowledged that the highly-popular Bishop had an international following online.

Julian Droogan, associate professor of terrorism studies at ­Macquarie University, said the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and the broader polarisation between Iran and proxies in the Middle East, has led to increased extremism in some parts of the world.

“The environment is one that is more dangerous for social cohesion in countries like Australia, which might lead to more extremism and violent extremism. We do know IS has been putting out propaganda about attacks on churches. We know that’s been something of concern in North America or Europe,” Dr Droogan said.

He said, however, that there was no evidence the accused was connected to any of that.