A young couple have been spared jail over a spate of hateful neo-Nazi graffiti on a major university campus despite a magistrate calling their behavior abhorrent.
Christopher Carrig, 20, and Taylor Bayly, 20, were sentenced on Tuesday for vandalism at Macquarie University in the early hours of January 25, 2024. The pair were ordered to reimburse the university for the cost of the vandalism. damage.
Carrig was also sentenced for an anti-Semitic incident in which he intimidated a 20-year-old man at a bus stop, whom he attacked for being Jewish, and the encounter was filmed and posted on social media.
During the interaction, Carrig told the man to remove a Jewish yarmulke (or skullcap) he was wearing and ordered him to kiss his shoes, Burwood Local Court in Sydney heard.
The 20-year-old also told the man: “It’s pretty low for a Jew to be waiting for the bus.” Can’t you call Uncle Goldstein and ask him to bring you a BMW?
Carrig’s attorney, Rylie Hahn, said in July of this year, several months after the vandalism, her client experienced significant trauma with the tragic deaths of two members of her family.
The bodies of Jennifer Carrig, 53, and Ella, 13, were found by police at their home in Marsfield, northern Sydney, prompting a major forensic investigation.
“His mother and sister recently and tragically passed away,” Mrs Hahn said, adding that the incident forced the distraught young man to move out of his family home.
Christopher Carrig and Taylor Bayly vandalized Macquarie University with graffiti insults such as ‘Nazi Rule’, ‘F**K 167’, ‘F**K Antifa Scum’ and ‘Hail Hitler’.
Christopher Carrig and Taylor Bayly, who have been in a relationship for about three years, have matching tattoos of the numbers ’14’ and ’88’ behind their ears, which have neo-Nazi associations.
About a week before the bodies were discovered, a police search of Carrig’s home revealed what a prosecutor described Tuesday as “more or less a Third Reich shrine.”
Carrig received some Nazi paraphernalia from his late mother, the court heard.
At the time of spray-painting Nazi slogans at Macquarie University, both Bayly and Carrig were drunk and acting in response to a socialist poster they had seen, magistrate Mark Whelan was told.
The pair admitted blackening their faces and entered the North Sydney campus before painting offensive symbols, including swastikas, in 24 places.
Slogans included ‘f*** Antifa Scum’ and ‘Heil Hitler’, as well as references to the Australian neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network.
Carrig and Bayly, who have been in a relationship for about three years, have matching tattoos of the numbers ’14’ and ’88’ behind their ears, which have neo-Nazi associations and were clearly visible when they faced court.
The two numbers are common codes among white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Whelan sentenced Bayly to serve a 15-month community corrections order, while Carrig received a two-year intensive corrections order instead of a full-time prison sentence.
Jennifer Carrig and her daughter Ella (pictured) were found dead inside their home in Marsfield.
The bodies of Jennifer Carrig, 53, and Ella, 13, were found by police at their home in Marsfield, northern Sydney, prompting a major forensic investigation.
The judge described the incident as “abhorrent.”
“It has no place in Australian society,” he said.
Carrig was arrested and charged with multiple crimes just a week before Jennifer and her disabled younger sister, Ella, were believed to have died inside the family home.
A family friend told Daily Mail Australia that the “absolutely lovely” Jennifer Carrig had problems with her outspoken son, Chris, who attended Epping High School until 2022.
Carrig and Bayly appear to have been living at the Menzies Road home when the couple were arrested shortly after 6am on July 2 by officers from the Counterterrorism and Special Tactics Command.
The pair were charged with intentionally or recklessly destroying or damaging property, blackening or disguising the face with intent to commit an indictable offence, possessing graffiti implements and trespassing on enclosed grounds.
Police allege Carrig and Taylor Bayly blackened their faces and then entered Macquarie Park, which has around 130 statues, inside Macquarie University, at around 12.17am on February 25.
Court documents allege they used an aerosol can to mark objects on campus with the Nazi swastika symbol and the label of the National Socialist Network, an Australian neo-Nazi political organization.
Taylor Bayly was given a community corrections order and will have to pay the university for the vandalism.
Just eight days after their arrests, the tragic discovery of Jennifer and Ella Carrig’s bodies was made.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Christopher Carrig or his girlfriend Taylor Bayly had any involvement in the death of Carrig’s mother Jennifer or his sister Ella.
NSW Police have launched a major investigation into the deaths of Carrig and Ella, which is ongoing.
Police initially revealed that the couple’s deaths were not being treated as suspicious.
Sources have since revealed that detectives are also investigating whether the deaths may have been the result of a murder-suicide.
It is unclear how the couple died, as neither Mrs Carrig nor her daughter had any obvious injuries.
“The victims did not suffer gunshot or stab wounds,” a police spokesman said.
Neighbors on this quiet suburban street were “absolutely shocked.”
One described the mother of three as “very friendly and kind.”
He told Daily Mail Australia that Ella had a disability and that her mother had just completed renovations to the house.
Another neighbor said Jennifer used to babysit him and that he had known her all his life.
“It’s sad,” he said.
For the vandalism and the incident involving the Jewish man, Carrig was sentenced to a two-year intensive corrections order and was also ordered to compensate Macquarie University $1222.50.
Bayly was sentenced to a 15-month community corrections order and was also ordered to compensate the university the same amount.