Youngest terror-accused teen wanted to do ‘catastrophic [act] to either Assyrian or Jewish people’
The youngest terror-accused teen, who allegedly hoped to do ‘something catastrophic’, will appeal against his bail refusal to the NSW Supreme Court.
A 15-year-old who allegedly declared in an online group chat that he wanted to attack Jewish and Assyrian people, and “do jihad now”, before being arrested for conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack, has been denied release following a lengthy bail hearing.
The lawyer for the youngest of the four teenagers charged in Sydney with conspiracy following the stabbing of Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, told waiting media he would take the application to the NSW Supreme Court, as the juvenile’s parents covered their faces.
“Obviously the family is disappointed, and we will appeal to the Supreme Court,” he said, after a court heard the 15-year-old’s parents would put up their home, worth $1.5 million, as surety and offered to pay for expensive third-party ankle-monitoring technology.
“They’re a loving family, so you could imagine (how they’re feeling) … They’re a loving family … with kids they are worried about,” he said.
Despite hearing the matter over two days, Magistrate James Viney refused bail at Parramatta Children’s Court on Thursday morning to the teenager who “bragged” about being a “mate” of the 16 year-old who allegedly stabbed Bishop Emmanuel at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on April 15.
The charges against six “associates” of the alleged stabber came following raids across southwest Sydney.
Magistrate Viney said “with the explicit threats to stab either Jewish or Assyrian people”, paired with a charge of common assault over an incident on April 22 when the accused teen threw a plank of wood at a bottle shop owner and was armed with a knife, he created an “unacceptable risk to the protection of the community that cannot be satisfied by bail conditions being imposed’’.
This was despite acknowledging an affidavit of the teenager’s mother painted a picture of “parents who have tried very hard to deal with their son’s problems as he’s grown older’’.
In his decision, the magistrate read out portions of the fact sheet, saying “it clearly set out the young person wanted to do something catastrophic to either Assyrian or Jewish people and wanted to do it bad”.
As far back as January, police allege the 15-year-old spoke to an unknown person on TikTok to say he was “actually thinking about doing an attack … my friends all support it but I don’t think they would do it”, adding he would “maybe (do it) by myself” and “I wanna do an attack on France so bad … I hate them”.
On April 19, the 15-year-old allegedly wrote to a Signal group called “Plans” to say “I really want to target the yahood (Jewish people)”, “we will plan it” and “when do youse want to do the bayah” – which police say is an Islamic term for a pledge of allegiance to a leader.
On April 20, the 15-year-old messaged a co-accused on Snapchat, airing frustrations that they couldn’t partake in violence that never came following the Wakeley stabbing. “They’ve made peace with the Assyrians,” the older teen allegedly said.
In response, the 15-year-old said: “Wanna do it to a bunch of Jews?” He also said: “Don’t youse want to do any attack? … The bloke is literally offering us money … What about Jews, brother? … What about Palestine?” and “We can attack Jews here … I wanted to do it so bad”.
He also told a co-accused on Snapchat, “I really want to do a attack now too because I have so much hatred for these kuffar [unbelievers] it’s not funny … and I wanna do jihad now.”
On Wednesday, the court heard his mother confiscated his phone because he was “getting heightened by the stabbing of the bishop”; she also spoke to him about his “inappropriate” language around the alleged incident.
Commonwealth prosecutor Rebekah Rodger argued that despite his parents’ best efforts to talk to him and “de-escalate” the situation after the stabbing of the bishop, the 15-year-old “persisted” and his behaviour “escalated”.
Magistrate Viney summarised it as his mother not being able to “control him”.
She said if he were released now, knowing he had “nothing left to lose”, it might make him more of a risk to the community.
His solicitor, Ahmed Dib, said the boy was “venting very wrong, very unethical, deranged (thoughts)’’, using words like “want to” and “thinking about” an attack, rather than taking “proactive steps in terms of planning”.
“(It) would not be outside the realm of possibility that a 15-year-old would be trying to brag and be macho about something that he has nothing to do with”, in terms of trying to fit in with the other kids,’’ he added.
Mr Dib also argued there were “significant flaws in the facts sheet”, something Magistrate Viney agreed with.