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Teenager who shot Curtis Cheng gave Isis salute, court told Teenager who shot Curtis Cheng gave Isis salute, court told
(about 5 hours later)
The teenager who shot dead the Sydney police employee Curtis Cheng gave the Islamic State salute to a security camera at a western Sydney mosque before he carried out the murder, a court has heard. As he left a western Sydney mosque on his way to shoot the police accountant Curtis Cheng, 15-year-old Farhad Jabar turned to a security camera and raised his index finger in the distinctive Islamic State salute.
CCTV footage of 15-year-old Farhad Jabar’s movements in the lead-up to him shooting Cheng outside police headquarters in Parramatta was played at a committal hearing for three men accused of aiding the terrorist plot. Prosecutors are using CCTV footage of Farhad’s chilling gesture and a bloodstained extremist note in which he threatened to turn “your days into hell” as evidence in the case against three men accused of aiding Cheng’s 2015 murder.
The crown prosecutor, Paul McGuire SC, said just before the teenager left the mosque for the police station, he could be seen to raise his index finger and look at the mosque security camera. Talal Alameddine, 24, Mustafa Dirani, 23, and Milad Atai, 21, faced the first day of a committal hearing in the Downing Centre local court on Monday.
“The raising of the index finger has become known as the IS salute,” McGuire told Downing Centre local court on Monday. All three are charged with doing an act in preparation for a terrorist act, while Alameddine and Dirani are charged with supplying the revolver used to shoot Cheng outside Parramatta police headquarters.
The footage shows Farhad praying at the mosque before striding through the streets of Parramatta in Islamic robes and wearing a Nike backpack. After carrying out the murder he was shot by police in an exchange of gunfire. A fourth man, 19-year-old Raban Alou, has also been charged over the plot but is not involved in the committal proceedings.
On a note found on his body the boy had scrawled that his was “an act that will cause nightmares during the night-time and hell during the daytime” and a reference to this being “the world of Allah”. The crown prosecutor, Paul McGuire SC, told the court a note found on Farhad’s body was clearly a reference to the shooting being “an act designed to cause terror and designed to achieve some religious motivation or end”.
McGuire said the note was almost identical to a torn-up note found in a bin in Farhad’s bedroom that appeared to have been written by his sister. The sister allegedly flew to Syria the day before Cheng’s murder. “Know that you are all being watched 24/7, while you are asleep, awake, planning,” the note says in part. “But soon by the will of God the Exalted, your nights will turn into nightmares, your days into hell.”
McGuire said that after Farhad shot Cheng, the online Islamic State magazine Dabiq referred to the teenager as among the “brave knights” of jihad who had “struck the crusaders of Australia and killed one of their personnel”. McGuire said Islamic State had taken credit for Cheng’s shooting, with its online magazine Dabiq referring to Farhad as “among the brave knights” of jihad who “struck the crusaders of Australia and killed one of their personnel”.
“The crown says that reference … establishes that the Islamic State was taking credit for the act of terror that was committed by [Farhad Jabar],” McGuire said. He said the accused men had referred to the Dabiq article in conversations on the WhatsApp messaging platform and had also discussed international terrorist attacks, and cursed Australian defence force personnel.
Talal Alameddine, 24, Mustafa Dirani, 23, and Milad Atai, 21, are facing a committal hearing accused of aiding Farhad’s plot. Aerial police surveillance footage was played to the court of Alameddine allegedly meeting Alou and Dirani at a western Sydney park to hand over a firearm just hours before Cheng was shot.
Forty-five minutes before the shooting, Alou can be seen entering the mosque, allegedly concealing the .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver used to shoot Cheng.
It was at the mosque that Farhad took possession of the weapon, prosecutors say.
CCTV footage played in court on Monday shows the teenager prayed before he left the mosque on foot, wearing dark robes and carrying a backpack, bound for the police headquarters where Cheng worked.
Farhad was shot dead by police in an exchange of gunfire shortly after he shot Cheng.
There was a heavy police presence in court for Monday’s hearing and the three accused men sat in a dock behind a clear panel.
Dirani and Atai smiled at three young male supporters who sat in the public gallery.
The committal hearing continues.