Jordayne Madams has been sentenced for possessing ISIS propoganda and child sex abuse material. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Jordayne Madams has been sentenced for possessing ISIS propoganda and child sex abuse material. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
A 20-year-old Dannevirke man who admitted to possessing ISIS propaganda and child sex abuse material has been given community detention.
Jordayne Evan Thomas Madams, a young Maori man who converted to Islam in 2015, appeared in the Palmerston North District Court today for sentence on the charges, which related to images and videos found on his computer in November 2017.
He has pleaded guilty to seven counts of possessing objectionable material.
Among the files were videos showing Turkish soldiers being burned alive, prisoners having their throats cut or being shot, and one man being executed by machine gun fire.
There were 68 images or videos containing logos or imagery linked to ISIS.
He posted more than one video to the website, telling people to "get up and find anything at all and go out there and find and kill the tyrants, where ever they may be," Judge Stephanie Edwards said.
In his videos, Madams spoke of attacks on Islamic centres in Quebec and Texas and of retaliating against them.
He said the Islamic State must be established in America.
Defence lawyer Mike Ryan said the offending happened when Madams was 18 and 19 years old.
Judge Edwards said a report by forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh concluded there was a direct link between Madams' offending and his Asperger's Syndrome.
"He's an intelligent young man whose energies need to be focused on positive things," she said.
"Dr Barry-Walsh seems reasonably clear that this is not an ongoing fixation, and radicalisation itself is not something that needs to be addressed."
Judge Edwards assured Madams and his family, who were seated in the public gallery, that the sentence would not be one of imprisonment.
You are now adamant that you no longer have the fixation you had with ISIS.
"I don't want you sitting here throughout this process worrying about that and not listening to what the lawyers have to say because that's important, and also listening to the reasons for the sentence that I'm going to impose on you."
She said there were a number of mitigating factors to the offending, including that Madams had no previous convictions.
A prison sentence would be "crushing" to a young person, and Madams' age meant he had a "greater capacity for rehabilitation".
One of the other factors was Madams' Asperger's Syndrome.
"What is also apparent from that section 38 report and your lengthy interviews with Dr Barry-Walsh is your remorse, which he considers genuine, and I accept that.
"You are now adamant that you no longer have the fixation you had with ISIS."
Judge Edwards said the mitigating factors allowed a significant discount to his sentence. She said the focus of the sentence needed to be rehabilitation.
Madams was sentenced to six months of community detention with a night-time curfew, and two years of intensive supervision.
Sentence conditions include restrictions on possessing material that promotes violence, and owning devices that have internet access.
Judge Edwards also ordered judicial monitoring, meaning she would receive reports every few months on Madams' progress and would have the ability to call him back to court to discuss concerns over those reports.
