Court documents indicate that the teenager allegedly behind the July 2 stabbing at the University of Sydney was influenced by right-wing, islamophobic ideologies, despite earlier reports from NSW Police that the attack was “not a religiously motivated attack.”
According to court documents, the 14 year old alleged attacker in last week’s Ross St Gate stabbing was previously before the Children’s Court following a September 2023 arrest over displays of “serious radicalised views.”
According to ABC News, the teenager’s charges associated with the court appearance were dismissed in February of this year. Instead, the 14 year old was placed on a treatment plan intended to ensure “positive and prosocial influences” on his life.
A NSW Police search of the teenagers’ home following these earlier concerns found a “12-page handwritten document which outlined his hatred for Muslims, the LGBTQI community and other minority groups,” according to ABC News.
Witnesses told investigators that the teenager stated intentions to “beat” the perpetrator of 2019’s Christchurch shooting by murdering 63 people, and showed peers “a screenshot of a Google Maps image with locations of Islamic mosques in Sydney marked on it,” ABC News reported.
Court documents said that “the material identified across the devices espouses ideologically motivated violent extremism and Nationalist Racist Violent Extremism,” including “racist and white supremacism, nationalism and neo-Nazism.”
Responding to the revelations, Students4Palestine Australia said in a post to social media that “as the media continues to maliciously paint a fictitious & radical picture of the Muslim community, they inevitably breed extremists of their own.”
The Sydney University Muslim Students Association (SUMSA) was the last group to officially end their involvement with the USyd Gaza solidarity encampment on June 21. The highly publicised encampment was dismantled following pressure from USyd management less than two weeks before the stabbing.
A University of Sydney spokesperson told Honi Soit, “Our community’s safety is always our prime concern, and we continue to monitor developments in this ongoing police and court matter and provide support as appropriate.”
Following the stabbing, the Office of the Vice-Chancellor released a statement that police “indicated there appeared to be no link to the encampment and they believed it was not a religiously motivated attack.”
Honi asked if management stood by these statements given new developments. “At all times we have taken guidance from NSW Police, and we’ll continue to do so,” the spokesperson said, “NSW Police stated publicly that the actions were not believed to be religiously motivated and that they were not aware of any links to the protest encampment on campus.”
“Support is available for anyone who needs assistance. You can access free and confidential counselling and wellbeing support 24/7 with Student Wellbeing by visiting the health and wellbeing webpage. 24-hour support is also available from Lifeline via text, online chat, or by calling 13 11 14,” the spokesperson said.
