Man Considered Attacking Mosque to Kill Muslim Men, NZ Court Told
Court documents show the man, now 22, discussed committing a mass attack to gain notoriety after being drawn into extremist online spaces, according to a Wednesday report by The New Zealand Herald.
Police said his plans included targeting either a shopping mall or a mosque and carrying out a fatal stabbing attack.
The case emerged after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted New Zealand authorities, following information provided by an American woman who had been communicating with the man online for about two years.
She reported that he spoke “repeatedly and in detail” about his desire to commit a mass killing.
According to a police summary of facts, “Throughout their communicating the defendant had been expressing a desire to conduct a mass attack for notoriety.”
The summary added: “The defendant told the young woman that he planned to commit a mass stabbing attack.”
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Police said his plans escalated in 2024. “His plans were to target either a mall or a mosque and kill men. He intended this to be a suicide mission,” the summary stated.
The man told the woman he intended to use a blade or a bayonet that he had already obtained.
Crown counsel Megan Mitchell told the court that the man intended to target Muslim men in particular.
When police searched his home, they found two bladed weapons, a machete and a bayonet. Authorities described his extremist beliefs and plans as a national security threat.
The man’s online activity drew the attention of New Zealand’s Digital Violence Extremism Team, set up after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. Investigators later found that he had shared and possessed violent extremist material, including content linked to the Christchurch attacks.
A diary page described as a manifesto stated that the man had been radicalised at 19 and referred to himself as a “soldier of Christ, his country, people and religion”. Police also found online accounts connected to anti-Islam material.
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In an affidavit, the man said he had shared a clip from the Christchurch mosque shooter’s video, claiming it “reminded him of the game he had been playing”.
Twenty files forming part of the charges related to violent extremist content, including five taken from the Christchurch attack footage.
The man also pleaded guilty to charges involving child exploitation material.
Judge Richard Earwaker sentenced the man to five years and four months in prison after reducing a higher starting point to account for his guilty plea, age and personal circumstances. He was also placed on the child sex offender register for eight years.
Source: Agencies
