The teen accused of stabbing a bishop ‘wasn’t in his right mind,’ according to his distraught parents, who are now facing terrorist charges.
For legal reasons, the identity of the 16-year-old child cannot be revealed. On April 15, as Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 55, was preaching a sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney’s western suburbs, via livestream, the youngster allegedly stabbed him.
A mob of 2,000 people chanted about revenge and wanted him to come outside the church after the stabbing. Authorities sealed the building to protect the boy.
Bishop Emmanuel’s parents have finally spoken out, praising the police for their son’s safety and expressing relief that he survived the alleged assault.
The boy’s mother said he had made a terrible mistake, and she felt he was out of his mind.
His parents reported that he was tormented in elementary school and would act out violently.
Their kid may spend the rest of his life behind bars after being accused of terrorism.
Six more boys, including some as young as fourteen years old, have been charged with being members of a terrorist network after a series of searches conducted by the police following the claimed assault.
The youngster had been communicating with global radicals in the months preceding the stabbing.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11, was his WhatsApp profile image. A video of Bin Laden urging Muslims to die for their cause was among the violent messages that the child loved.
He was a member of the WhatsApp group BROTHERHOOD, where he and other teens voiced support for violent extremism.
He pleaded for Muslims to attain victory over “their enemies” in his last Instagram post, which he wrote about an hour before the alleged stabbing.
According to Peta Lowe, a specialist in juvenile extremism and a former head of Countering Violent Extremism for NSW Juvenile Justice, “leakage” is a regular occurrence for people just before they carry out an assault.
According to Ms. Lowe, it was evident that he had reached a point where he felt driven to take action based on his views.
