Terror-accused, 16, ‘effectively made admission’ he was conspiring to plan attack

A teen accused of conspiring to plan a terrorist attack will remain in custody, while another charged with possessing extremist propaganda has been granted bail.

A teen accused of conspiring to plan a terrorist attack will remain in custody, while another charged with possessing extremist propaganda has been granted bail. Picture: NSW Police

A 17 year-old boy, charged with possessing extremist propaganda material and a video of associates committing alleged assaults under an ISIS watermark, has been granted bail.

One of his bail conditions included a non-association order with Wassim Fayad, who was previously identified as the influential former IS supporter listed on search warrants in relation to the stabbing of Assyrian Christian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on April 15.

A 16 year-old, charged with the more serious offence of having conspired with three others to plan an unspecified terrorist attack, calling them “the soldiers of Allah” in messages, was denied bail in the same court, after the prosecution alleged he made “effectively an admission” in encrypted messages when he thought police were onto them.

One boy arrested as part of the raids. Picture: NSW Police

Another boy arrested as part of the raids. Picture: NSW Police Picture: NSW Police

The boys were two of the six arrested and charged in raids after material was discovered on the device of a 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed the Bishop Emmanuel.

The bail application for the 17 year-old was opposed by the prosecution, who said one video in his possession allegedly involved associates of the young person carrying a knife and “advocating terrorism”, as well as someone who looks similar to the young person “in acts of alleged violence”.

The video had an ISIS watermark on it “suggesting it’s somehow associated with terror”, the court heard. It puts the offence “slightly outside” of just possession of material, the commonwealth prosecution argued.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel speaks at the Wakeley church on April 28 after the stabbing. Picture: Supplied

But Magistrate Janet Wahlquist at Parramatta Children’s Court said there was “nothing to suggest any action on his part”.

The 16 year-old, who was denied bail, allegedly told an associate “we were planning big stuff bro” when he believed they might have been caught by the police, with Magistrate Wahlquist telling the Children’s Court on Tuesday “he clearly knew” what he was involved in.

The messages came after some young people were arrested for an assault and their phones were believed to have been seized. The 16 year-old told another boy “it’s conspiracy, conspiracy for a terror (attack), I think”.

“We’re actually gone for a long time if they (go) through his phone ... You know that yeah?,” he is alleged to have said.

Commonwealth prosecutors told the magistrate that it was “effectively an admission by this young person, made in circumstances where he believes that the phone of the person he’s been contacting, will have been seized by police after that arrest”, adding that it said “quite a lot as to his state of mind, in terms of what these conversations involved”.

Magistrate Wahlquist said, based on the fact sheet, he was “clearly aware that what he was doing amounted to terrorism and that did not stop him”.

“(He was) clearly concerned about getting caught. This young person clearly knew that they would be regarded as planning a terrorist attack. He was fully aware of the potential danger of what he was doing and what might happen if he got caught and that did not stop him,” she added.

Defence barrister Greg James KC, representing the 16 year-old, submitted letters from his parents who said they had “no complaint, never have, in relation to his behaviour” but that he was “an excellent son” and a good student “with whom they’ve had no issues” in the past.

He also said there was “nothing whatsoever in the household”, with two regular, working parents, that would indicate a likelihood to “be involved in anything illegal at all”, particularly an act of violence. Mr James also argued his continued custody would amount to “pre-emptive punishment” since the prosecution, on the current fact sheet, could not specify what terrorist act they were planning, just that they were making plans.

His mother, who was present in court, and the 16 year-old boy, both put their heads in their hands when the magistrate revealed her decision.

The court also heard the 16-year-old discussed obtaining guns, and establishing an abandoned “stash house” in regards to “the Kuffar plan” which police allege is a “non-believer plan”.

In the conversation, the 16-year-old and another boy refer to “nerf guns” but later speak of buying a “shotty”, with one of the boys claiming he can get two or three “dirty guns” for $2000-$4000. Police will allege there is a “strong inference available that these communications are directly about sourcing firearms”.

In another conversation, one of the other boys says: “I know it is … But I wanna die an I wanna kill … I’m just excited” and the 16 year-old responds, “We’re gonna kill dw (don’t worry) … but we need patience”.