Teenager, father weep after extremist material charges
The father of a teen charged with terrorism offences, after he was allegedly caught with bomb-making chemicals, sobbed in court as his son was given bail.
A teenager charged with terrorism offences has been granted bail despite allegedly being caught with disturbing extremist material and bomb-making chemicals.
Max Belter, 18, was allegedly found with a beheading video after a joint terrorism taskforce’s search of his property at The Gap in Brisbane’s north.
He is also accused of having chemicals in his bedroom cupboard to build explosives along with “nationalist and racist violent extremist” material including the Unabomber Manifesto and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Dressed in watchhouse greens, Belter wept when he appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday to apply for bail with his parents looking on from the gallery.
His father sobbed when magistrate Rosemary Gilbert later granted Belter bail on strict conditions after demonstrating “exceptional circumstances”.
Belter was charged with two counts of possessing and controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service after Tuesday’s raid.
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The maximum penalty for the offence is five years in jail.
Defence counsel Samuel Bain told the court exceptional circumstances should apply to his client for bail including his age, lack of criminal history, support in court and ability to undertake bail at the family home.
But commonwealth prosecutor Ellie McDonald argued Belter was an unacceptable risk to the community.
McDonald said an initial review of items seized had identified extensive materials “indicative of deep ideological alignment” with nationalist extremism.
“Over 50 documents were identified relating to the construction of explosives and firearms,” she said.
Belter had shown a strong interest in violence and was found in possession of an “extremely graphic” 30-minute video which ended in a beheading, McDonald said.
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Belter was accused of conducting searches for explosives and sourcing chemicals for constructing and testing explosives.
“Evidence located during the search warrant also identified that the defendant was storing precursor chemicals necessary to build an improvised explosive device in his bedroom cupboard,” McDonald said.
Three weapons were allegedly found at his home and communications had revealed Belter had sought tips on how to buy a firearm, she said.
“The defendant has shown a fixation with material consistent with a nationalist and racist violent extremist ideology,” McDonald said.
But the magistrate said there was no suggestion before the court that Belter had engaged in preparatory acts of violence or incited others when she handed down her bail decision on Thursday afternoon.
Gilbert revealed the police raid had found a PDF version of the Terrorgram magazine which encouraged lone active terrorist acts and provided instructions for carrying them out, targeting minority groups and government infrastructure.
Other items seized included the 30-minute Islamic State beheading video and 32 hard-copy books linked to extremist ideology including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto and Hitler’s autobiography, she said.
Belter’s mother covered her face with her hands during the magistrate’s decision before his father shook as he wept when bail was granted.
“Overall my view is that you can and have demonstrated exceptional circumstances,” Gilbert said, granting bail on strict conditions.
-with AAP
