A 16-year-old boy has apologised to Adelaide’s District Court after pleading guilty to multiple extremist offences.
Key points:
- The teenager says he realises now the danger he could have put people in
- The boy’s lawyer says his client is not “radicalised”, but the prosecutor says the boy told a psychologist he “fantasised about stabbing people”
- He will be sentenced in December
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was now aware of the seriousness of possessing extremist material when he was 14 years old.
“I realised now that sharing those explosive instructions could put people in danger,” he said through a statement read to the court.
He previously pleaded guilty to producing extremist material, using explosive instructions and possessing information for a terrorist attack in 2022.
The defendant has been in custody since his arrest, and the case was moved from Adelaide’s Youth Court to the District Court.
Judge Paul Muscat will decide whether the boy will be sentenced as an adult, and has previously raised concerns that the boy’s “sympathy towards ISIS has not diminished”.
The prosecution told the court that his offending was “more than just sharing videos online”, and that he actively participated in online chat rooms, obtaining “extremely depraved” extremist material and coaching others online about how to make bombs.
“He was the one that was running that group … so his behaviour is much more than sharing extremist videos online,” prosecutor James Slocombe told the court.
Mr Slocombe also said the defendant told a psychologist that he fantasised about stabbing people and it was a “calming thought to him.”
The court heard that since the boy has been in prison, drawings have been discovered depicting the ISIS flag and masked ISIS fighters carrying weapons.
Judge Muscat previously told the court about multiple incidents that had occurred during the boy’s time in detention, including “concerning” comments made about next year’s Anzac Day services.
“There’s a comment made that if he were not in detention next year on Anzac Day, he would do something,” Judge Muscat had said.
“He referenced to the interstate incident involving others who were plotting an attack at an Anzac Day service in Canberra.”
Defence lawyer Chris Weir said his client was not “radicalised”, but that the offending itself happened within the context of his autism and he had a strong prospect for rehabilitation.
The boy will be sentenced in December.
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