SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian man was charged with a terrorism offense on Thursday after entering a politician’s election office with plans to kill him, authorities and local media said.
The 19-year-old man entered the New South Wales state parliamentarian’s office Tim Crakanthorp in Newcastle, about 170 km (105 miles) north of Sydney, on Wednesday, before being arrested at a nearby museum with weapons and tactical equipment, the Australian Broadcasting Corp and the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He was detained overnight and charged on Thursday with “acts carried out in preparation or planning of a terrorist act”, a police statement said.
At a hearing where the man appeared via video conference, acting magistrate Anthony Spence told the court the man was accused of attending Mr Crakanthorp’s office “with the intention of killing him because of his status as a member of parliament”. [and] in preparation for planning a terrorist attack,” ABC reported.
A court representative named the accused as Jordan Patten, adding that Patten did not apply for bail and it was formally refused. Patten has not yet been required to enter a plea.
The police statement states that the accused distributed a document to public figures and media outlets, without giving further details. The ABC and Herald reported that Patten shared a 200-page manifesto that detailed multiple grievances, including anti-immigration and anti-diversity views.
Crakanthorp said in a statement that he and his team emerged unharmed from what he called a very serious incident.
Patten is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 21, the court official said.
Gun and knife violence is rare in Sydney, one of the safest cities in the world, but in recent months there has been a spate of stabbing attacks.
In April, six people were killed in a mass stabbing attack at a Sydney shopping center in which police shot dead the attacker.
A few days later, a teenager allegedly stabbed an Assyrian Christian bishop during church service in Sydney. The teenager and five other people were charged with terrorism-related crimes.
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Michael Perry)
