A “quiet and respectful” 15-year-old being held on terrorism charges was allegedly part of a group chat in which he professed to wanting to “stab” and “attack” non-Muslims, a court has heard.
The messages were revealed in Parramatta children’s court on Wednesday as part of the teenager’s application for bail, after he was arrested and charged after recent counter-terrorism raids.
Police alleged the teenager sent messages to a group chat on Signal called “Plans” that he allegedly wanted to target Jewish people.
“Don’t youse want to do an attack … what about jews, I am so cut, I want to do it so bad,” he allegedly wrote in one message.
In another, the court heard, he allegedly said: “I really want to do an attack too, I have so much hatred for kuffar (non-Muslims) its not funny, I want to do jihad now.”
Magistrate James Viney said the messages were “gravely concerning, deeply disturbing and very serious”.
He did not make a decision on bail, adjourning the court until Thursday morning to consider the seriousness of the issues surrounding the case.
The boy’s defence tendered documents in court, including report cards, a psychological report and an affidavit from his mother that painted a picture of a teenager with behavioural issues.
The teenager’s solicitor, Ahmed Dib, described the boy as “quiet” and “respectful” in opening remarks, adding that he had trouble with his confidence and with concentrating.
Police allege that some of the messages they tendered as part of their evidence came in the days after a 16-year-old allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a church in western Sydney in early April.
Those include allegedly telling the group chat he wanted to “stab a kuffar dog” and in a separate message telling an associate he knew the alleged attacker, saying he was a “mate”.
Police alleged in court that the group chat featured co-conspirators who were planning an upcoming attack, however, the defence refuted that any such plan was in motion.
They said that no “substantial plan” was mentioned in the police fact sheet and if there was “significant planning”, police would have outlined it.
The defence claimed the teenager was venting to his group, and that he had a history of struggling with confidence. They claimed he was “bragging in a macho way” in order to be “accepted by the group”.
They alleged that a “large portion” of the police fact sheet was relying on conversations between the accused co-conspirators.
The teenager was the youngest of the five juveniles arrested and charged with conspiracy to engage in any act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act. As part of the search warrants executed last week, a further two teenagers have been charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material.
Dib said the conversations and messages tendered to court by police did not amount to “substantial planning”.
“In terms of taking proactive steps, this was a young person venting unethically, it’s deranged, but does not go to strength of prosecution case.”
Dib also pointed to a separate incident in which the teenager, alongside another co-accused, allegedly attacked a liquor store in the days after the stabbing at the church.
In that incident, it is alleged a wooden plank was thrown at the liquor store staff member, and the two teenagers were allegedly found to have “kitchen knives” on them by police when they were arrested.
But Dib said it was a “significant jump” to go from allegedly throwing a wooden plank at someone and planning a terrorist attack.
“He does not pull that knife out at any point,” Dib told the court. “He complies with police, it’s a very different type of person to the one described as having potential to carry out terror attack.”
As part of the search warrant executed on the teenager’s home, police seized a tomahawk and a hunting knife. However, the defence alleged they were found in the garage, and were “gardening tools”.
The prosecution sought an adjournment to assess new evidence tendered to court late on Wednesday that detailed how potential electronic monitoring could work if the boy was granted bail.
A decision was expected on Thursday morning.
