A judge says there would be an unacceptable risk to the community if she released a teenager on bail while he faces charges for allegedly posting terrorism propaganda online and threatening a Melbourne synagogue.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has been in custody since May and is charged with publishing and possessing extremist material, and making threats to kill.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the teen, who has autism and a range of mental health conditions, argued he should be released and allowed to live with his parents under strict supervision.<\/p>\n
His lawyers said he had no intentions of carrying out threats, and that his time on remand could be longer than a potential prison sentence for the alleged offences.<\/p>\n
The teen faces a maximum of 10 years’ jail if found guilty.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The youth was at the centre of another terror investigation in 2021.\u00a0 (ABC News: Demi Lynch)<\/p>\n
Justice Rowena Orr acknowledged “exceptional circumstances” in the teenager’s bid for freedom, including his autism and police misconduct during a previous investigation.<\/p>\n
However, she refused to release him, saying she had been guided by Victorian bail laws that seek to maximise “the safety of the community”.<\/p>\n
Email from ‘Adolf Hitler’ threatened synagogue, court told<\/p>\n
The court was told the teenager published Islamic State propaganda on Instagram depicting executions of civilians.<\/p>\n
A video on his phone also contained what appeared to be an oath of allegiance to Islamic State, the judge said.<\/p>\n
The teenager is also accused of sending an email from “Adolf Hitler” to the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, where he threatened Jews would be shot, burnt and slaughtered.<\/p>\n
“From Friday Shabbat time there will be a shooter coming in at night and shooting everyone of you f***ing venom dead,” he is alleged to have written.<\/p>\n
The email also contained alleged threats that explosives had been placed around a school.<\/p>\n
“I accept this email caused great distress to those who received it,” Justice Orr said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s alleged the teen sent threats to the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n
In her published judgment, the judge said police raided the teenager’s home and found a mobile phone hidden in a bathroom wall.<\/p>\n
A drawing in his bedroom allegedly showed a stick figure firing a gun at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with the caption, “MCG \u2014 target Australians, ppl of Australia. Aim \u2014 to kill as many Aussie dogs as possible”.<\/p>\n
The court was also told the youth used gift cards online to buy knives and machetes.<\/p>\n
The judge said it was challenging to predict future acts of terrorism, but that posting terror material “can quickly escalate to real world acts”.<\/p>\n
Federal Police previously investigated teenager<\/p>\n
While in custody in recent months, the teenager was accused of trying to steal the keys of a youth detention centre worker and had spoken of plans to carry out a stabbing, the court heard.<\/p>\n
The teenager was at the centre of another terror investigation in 2021 and spent 93 days in custody.<\/p>\n
However Justice Orr said that case was halted by the Children’s Court because the Joint Counter Terrorism Team and the Australian Federal Police “allowed a covert operative to engage the applicant while he was undergoing a rehabilitation program in order to further their investigation into his activities”.<\/p>\n
The boy’s mother accused police of “grooming” her son, and pushing him further towards Islamic State ideals.<\/p>\n
“It is significant that several years later, there is ample evidence of the enduring nature of the applicant’s fixation,” Justice Orr said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The judge said he had breached bail conditions in the past, and used the internet to search “10 ways to cover up a murder” and “16 ways to kill someone and not get caught”.<\/p>\n
In denying bail this time, Justice Orr said she could not be satisfied that the teenager’s parents or extensive supervision programs could sufficiently lower the risk of further offending.<\/p>\n
“The applicant’s interest in violent extremism persists and an increasing level of intent has been observed. His problematic behaviour in the custodial setting has escalated,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge says there would be an unacceptable risk to the community if she released a teenager on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,32723,125222,44,125223,118409,111400,125221,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-200236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-islamic-state","tag-melbourne-hebrew-congregation","tag-news","tag-propaganda","tag-synagogue","tag-terror-charges","tag-terrorim","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}