Teenager jailed for at least 12 years for terror plot

NSW Supreme Court judge Geoffrey Bellew said an attack was imminent as police swooped on two 16-year-old school friends in an alleyway outside a Bankstown Muslim prayer hall in late 2016.

“I am satisfied that, at the time of the offending, the offender was an unequivocally committed terrorist,” Justice Bellew said.

“His actions on 12 October 2016 were directed to putting into practice, with meticulous precision and attention to detail, the exhortations to go out and inflict terror and harm upon members of the community who were likely to be doing nothing more than going about their daily business.

“Armed with weapons, and inspired and motivated by the depraved advocacy of Islamic State, the offender engaged in acts which had a real capacity to cause those members of the community to fear for their lives.”

The 18-year-old man, who cannot be named, had in his possession two M9 bayonets he had purchased from a nearby gun shop, telling the salesman he wanted to go “pig hunting”.

“Any suggestion that the offender was not referring to police when he made a reference to ‘pig hunting’ when purchasing knives on the sixth of October is entirely at odds with the fact that at the time of his arrest he repeatedly called the police ‘pigs’,” Justice Bellew said.

The court heard the proximity of the police station and court house to the location of the boys’ arrests were significant as the teenager had admitted in evidence that he regarded the Australian government as evil.

“The offender would inevitably have found many persons within the immediate vicinity who he regarded as appropriate targets,” Justice Bellew said.

The boy, who had accessed extremist websites in the lead-up to his arrest, was also in possession of a note pledging allegiance to Islamic State as well as clothing that would allow him to disguise himself.

He maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming he was interested in hunting.

In September, a jury found the teen guilty doing acts in preparation of a terrorist attack but was unable to reach a verdict on his friend, who was tried at the same time.

The guilty teen will spend the first five years of his sentence, which carries a maximum term of 16 years, in juvenile detention.

The jailterm was backdated to the time of his arrest.

His co-accused will be retried next year.