A 16-year-old boy charged with terrorism offenses in connection with the Wakeley church stabbing allegedly declared he was going to “kill” in messages about carrying out a plot against non-believers, a court heard.
Police allege the teenager is an associate of the 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel six times at an Assyrian Orthodox church in Wakeley on April 15.
The bishop was delivering a live-streamed sermon at 7 p.m. when he was stabbed by an assailant who then attacked a priest.
His alleged attacker was charged with a terrorism crime, which was quickly followed by widespread search warrants and the arrest of five of his alleged associates.
On Tuesday, a 16-year-old boy faced Parramatta Youth Court after being charged with conspiring to engage in preparation or planning for a terrorist act and possessing a knife in a public place.
Crown prosecutor Chelsea Brain told the court the messages showed the teenager had been involved in a conversation about carrying out a plot against “non-believers”.
The teenagers spoke of spending $2000 to buy two or three ‘nerf guns’ (a gun-like toy), which the Crown said was code for ‘dirty guns’ later dubbed ‘shotty’.
‘This is some serious shit. “We are going to kill, but we need patience,” the 16-year-old allegedly wrote in a message read in court.
Brain said the teen had been actively considering “some act of violence against members of the community” and had shown support for people involved in the church stabbing.
He recently changed his profile picture on social media to a photo of him holding a rifle in front of an Islamic State flag, the court was told.
In another message to a group of teenagers who had been arrested on unrelated charges, Brain said the 16-year-old had admitted to planning.
‘We were planning big things, brother. It’s a conspiracy. I think plotting a terrorist attack,” he allegedly wrote after his alleged accomplices were arrested.
‘We were planning something huge here bro, you don’t understand. Enormous.’
The court heard communications between the teenagers in an encrypted group chat that began in March.
According to the indictment, the 16-year-old and his alleged accomplices were planning a terrorist attack of a “biological nature.”
Police arrested several associates (one pictured) of the teen who allegedly stabbed the priest, after officers obtained warrants.
Brain argued that the teen should not be released on bail because protecting the community “is a very important consideration at this time.”
However, the teenager’s lawyer, Greg James KC, opined that the Crown had failed to detail his client’s alleged offences.
“We do not know, not even from all the material, not even from the analysis of all the text messages sent… what the terrorist act is said to have been, how much was actually agreed upon… or what had been an issue.” speculation or conjecture,” he told the court.
“The appropriate thing is not to keep the young man detained while the prosecution resolves its problems.”
James said the teen was charged with a “preparatory double offense” of conspiracy to prepare a terrorist act.
“It moves away twice from the central concept of the crime of terrorism,” he stressed.
The teenager’s lawyer pointed to his complete lack of criminal record and his “exemplary” and “law-abiding” record as factors that would give the court peace of mind when considering bail.
He argued that the prosecution’s concerns could be mitigated by “very strict” bail conditions that would subject the teenager to house arrest and prohibit him from using an Internet-enabled device.
A riot occurred at the church (pictured) after the alleged attack, and police carried out counter-terrorism raids against those allegedly involved in inciting the violent actions.
Magistrate Janet Wahlquist refused to grant bail to the 16-year-old after finding there were “sufficient communications” captured in the encrypted chats, which discussed attack planning, hiding places and obtaining weapons and knives.
‘He was clearly aware that what he was doing amounted to terrorism. That didn’t stop him,” he said.
However, the magistrate granted bail to a 17-year-old boy accused of possession of extremist content following the execution of a search warrant related to the church stabbing.
The court previously heard that the teenager had allegedly been in possession of instructional videos on how to build an explosive device, videos of beheadings and images linked to IS and Hamas.
However, the teenager’s lawyer, Ertunç Ozen SC, argued there was no evidence his client had viewed the videos and suggested they could have been automatically saved to his phone.
He noted that the teenager was only accused of having 124 extremist files saved on his phone, not of spreading them.
“Possession of these documents is not equivalent to an endorsement,” he said.
“It is not alleged that this young man has ties, links or affiliations with any terrorist or ideological cause.”
Ozen argued that the offense “is at the lower end” of the “broad spectrum” of terrorism offenses contained in the legislation.
The arrests of the teenagers were made (pictured) over accusations that they were planning a terrorist attack against “non-believers”.
Brain opposed bail, pointing out that some of the videos were watermarked with the IS symbol and involved the teenager’s friends committing assaults on members of the public.
She argued the teenager posed an “unacceptable risk” to the public if released on bail.
Magistrate Wahlquist agreed that the videos were “very violent” and that the videos from the teen’s friends suggested a “closer association” with him than the other content.
However, he noted that the teen had spent the last week in isolation while in custody due to the nature of the charges.
The magistrate took into consideration his onerous custody, along with his youth and lack of criminal record.
Both teens will return to court next month.
