A south-east Queensland teenager, accused of holding similar ideologies to the American “Unabomber” terrorist, has been acquitted of planning a terror attack against members of the Liberal Party and on the public.
Over the past week, the now 17-year-old boy, who cannot legally be identified under the state’s youth justice laws, faced a trial in Brisbane.
He pleaded not guilty to one count of acts done in preparation for or in planning a terrorist act.
After deliberating for more than one day, a Supreme Court jury acquitted him.
Family members in the public gallery broke down into tears as the verdict was heard.
Labour Day event allegedly targeted
During the trial, the prosecution alleged when he was 16, the teen planned and prepared to set off an improvised explosive device at a Queensland Labour Day event in May 2024.
The attack did not take place, and later that month, the boy’s target allegedly shifted to members of the Liberal Party, due to its policy on nuclear power.
Over several months, the teenager researched different types of bombs, purchased materials to make them, and tested them.
The teenager had also written about his plans in his diary and discussed it with a school friend, which is who eventually reported him to police.
Police were alerted to the teenager’s alleged plans by one of his friends in July 2024. (ABC News: Demi Lynch)
In her closing address on Monday, Crown prosecutor Sally Flynn KC told the jury the teenager was motivated by anti-technology and anti-capitalist ideology.
“The prosecution case is that… the threat of action was to be done or threatened, with the intention of advancing an ideological cause,” she said.
Ms Flynn told the jury “this was no joke” and the teenager had “very deliberately” looked up explosives, before experimenting with materials he bought, with the intention of using them in an act of terror.
“In a public place … or attacks on premises and or persons associated with or perceived to be associated with the Liberal Party of Australia,” she said
Defence lawyer Laura Reece KC argued the evidence showed the teenager, who has autism, was a “really troubled kid”. She said he was struggling with his parents’ separation and a self-harm attempt.
She accepted the teenager had a fascination with explosives and may have experimented with them, but he had conflicting ideas and beliefs and was not planning an actual attack.
“He was seeking out extremist material from wildly contradictory sources from the dark corners of the internet,” she said.
“Even his thoughts about different targets related to opposed ideologies.”
Diary and texts shown to jury
During the trial, multiple diary entries and messages exchanged between the teenager and his friend were shown to the jury.
The court heard in the teen’s diary, he wrote about American terrorist Ted Kaczynski. (AP: John Youngbear)
In his diary, the teenager wrote about his fixation with bombs, which he called an “autistic interest”.
He admitted in his diary it was an “unhealthy obsession”, and he was “probably” radicalised and needed help as he thought about wanting to harm people.
The teenager also wrote about the American terrorist Ted Kaczynski and was sympathetic to him.
Kaczynski, who held anti-technology and anti-capitalist views, sent explosive devices in the mail across the US, which killed three people and injured dozens of others.
After his parents discovered materials to make explosives in his room, the teenager wrote in his diary about his mother asking him if he agreed with Kaczynski’s ideology.
“I explained to them my motives, that I wanted to strike back at people I don’t like, politicians, companies that have caused harm to society or nature,” he said in his diary.
When messaging his friend, the teenager spoke of his first plan to “strike” at a Labour Day March in Brisbane.
He purchased items to make a bomb to use in the attack but later told his friend he could not source nails to use as shrapnel, and did not know if he would “do the bomb” there.
The court heard the teenager allegedly made searches online about former opposition leader Peter Dutton. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Weeks after the event passed, he told his friend and wrote in his diary, that his target was now “the Libs”.
He said this was because he was against the political party’s proposed nuclear power plans, including building a plant near where he lived.
During this period, the teenager also made a number of searches online, including about “eco terrorism” and the location of former federal opposition leader Peter Dutton.
He also looked up whether the Port Arthur mass shooter was autistic and downloaded a video of the Christchurch mosque mass shooting being carried out.
