The defendant had first taken an interest in Isis in 2017, when he was about 16. About four years later, following an unsuccessful attempt by police to engage constructively with him, an undercover officer contacted him on social media posing as a fellow Isis sympathiser.
The conversations that followed lasted about a month and included the teen confiding that he was ready to take the next step — an Auckland-based terrorist attack. He shared with the undercover officer a list of his potential attack sites and extensive details about how he might carry it out.
But police brought what was known as Operation Strand to a quick conclusion in September 2021, just days after an unrelated terror attack in a New Lynn supermarket in which several shoppers were stabbed. Shortly after the attack, the defendant said he was inspired and wanted to move his own plan forward.
Police realised at that point that the risk of leaving him in the community any longer was “simply unacceptable”, Crown prosecutor Henry Steele said today.
The defendant, who has remained in jail since his arrest, pleaded guilty in November to one count of threatening to kill, two counts of supplying objectionable publications and six counts of possession of objectionable publications. He faced up to 14 years in prison for the charges.
Police executed a search warrant at the teen’s home on September 8, 2021, confirming many of the details that had been discussed by the defendant in previous weeks of online chats. In his bedroom was found one of the ingredients used to make triacetone triperoxide — an unstable explosive compound, better known by the acronym TATP, that is often favoured by suicide bombers.
Police also gained access to his Google Cloud account, which included folders titled “Terror plot Recons” and “Isis supporter-recruit”. In the recruit folder were videos in which the teen swore allegiance to the Islamic State and claimed “Jihad and retribution against the New Zealand Government and New Zealand Society and in general against the West”.
“The defendant states that he is ready for martyrdom and will commit a terror attack after he has done more research,” court documents indicated.
The “Terror plot Recons” folder included photos, seemingly taken from the internet, of locations such as Auckland Town Hall, Spark Arena, SkyCity and multiple restaurants. The folder also included diary entries in which the teen referred to having visited Auckland Airport, Albany Westfield mall and other locations for reconnaissance purposes.
“Throughout the diary entries, the defendant states his intent to kill multiple people by committing a terror attack in Auckland City,” court documents state.
Additional folders were titled “3D Firearms Manufacture”, “Bomb Instructions” and “Knives and Knife combat training”.
Posing as a fellow Isis sympathiser under the screen name Ozarikon, authorities quickly appeared to obtain the teen’s trust and get him to open up about his plans.
“In those conversations, the defendant expressed a desire to travel to Syria and support the Islamic State,” court documents state. “On the 5th August 2021, the defendant shared ... that he had a plan B. If he could not travel overseas, he wanted to do an attack in Auckland.
“The defendant discussed at length various options around committing an attack. These included a knife attack, vehicle attack or an explosive attack using TATP.”
He also revealed he already had instructions to build a bomb and could easily obtain the materials.
In addition, the teen revealed that he had put together a tactical gear kit including camouflage clothing, flip knives, gloves and a baseball cap. Police would later find the kit as they searched his home.
After the search warrant was executed, police took a deeper look into his online files, resulting in the six charges of possession of objectionable publications. In all, there were 360 videos found in his files that were thought to be related to Isis, including graphic, banned footage of terror attacks and child soldiers carrying out an execution. He also had a banned copy of the Christchurch mosque attacker’s racist manifesto.
The two distribution of objectionable material charges against him related to a publication produced by Al-Qaeda that he forwarded, as well as a video that included an instructional video on decapitation using a live subject.
Crown prosecutor Henry Steele described the police operation as rare, providing authorities with “a real-time insight into his thought process and his very serious intent” to commit an act of “extreme violence”.
“He’s taken some very tangible steps towards realising that goal,” he said. “It’s obvious he came frighteningly close to actually committing an act of extreme violence.
“...A long term of imprisonment ... is the only response to this type of offending.”
Defence lawyer Annabel Cresswell noted today her client’s possession of the banned Christchurch terrorist manifesto — involving discrimination against Muslims — as proof it was less about Islamic radicalisation than a desire to connect with someone online.
While he’s “certainly been down a rabbit hole and radicalised in some ways”, he has not expressed a desire to convert to Islam and did not actually know much about the religion, she said. Most of the violence referenced in his diary and conversations, she suggested, amounted to fantasy.
“There’s real doubt as to whether he could have or would have carried out an attack of any kind,” she said, referring to her client’s complex conditions that have resulted in him not being able to follow through on something as simple as obtaining a learner’s permit. “He doesn’t have the focus or the real ability to have carried out an attack.”
Because he has already been in prison for so long, Cresswell said her client would likely be eligible for parole soon even if he was to be sentenced to prison. He could get more out of intensive supervision that comes with a non-custodial sentence than from parole conditions, she suggested.
But Justice Edwards took two breaks in the middle of her sentencing remarks so that the defendant could take time to digest what she was saying.
“This is a big day for you and your whānau,” she said as she began the remarks. “It is also an important day for the public and our society.”
She described his troubled upbringing, which included being bullied at school and dropping out at age 14 — finding comfort in the internet amid his “extreme self-loathing” as he became increasingly isolated from the world around him.
“This gave birth to a deep-seated anger at the world,” she said. “...You sought belonging and also revenge.”
While the defendant might have had some trouble carrying out basic tasks, he was able to figure out encrypted online communications, she pointed out.
She also pointed to an affidavit from the defendant in which he said he has found clarity while in jail, away from internet access and negative influences. He has requested to meet a surviving victim of the Christchurch massacre and has expressed respect for the man’s bravery, she said.
“There is a long way to go yet ... but you are headed in the right direction,” the judge said.
But he has been assessed as having a high risk of re-offending. Prison, she surmised, is the best place for the defendant at this time as he continues his rehabilitation.
“Safety has to be the priority,” she said.
