Alleged terrorist who stabbed Sydney bishop diagnosed with schizophrenia

A teenager who slipped the intelligence net and stabbed a Sydney bishop in an alleged terrorist attack 20 months before the Bondi Beach massacre has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a court has heard.

The attacker was 16 when he stabbed Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, causing him to lose an eye, during a live-streamed church service in Wakeley in April 2024.

He was one of six teenagers who faced Parramatta Children's Court on Friday, after being accused by police in 2024 of being participants in an Islamic State (IS) terrorism network involving a prominent alleged recruiter.

Four are accused of plotting a second terrorist attack targeting Jews in the aftermath of the Wakeley attack, while another is charged over a string of IS-inspired pack bashings of gay and bisexual teenagers — videos of which the ABC published this week.

An ongoing ABC investigation into the resurgence of IS has uncovered links between that group and notorious preachers linked to the Bondi attackers.

The Wakeley attacker's solicitor, Paige Hackett, on Friday told the court the boy had received two diagnoses of schizophrenia, after he was sectioned in a forensic hospital late last year.

Ms Hackett said the teenager was awaiting an expert assessment of whether he was suffering a psychotic episode during the attack, and whether he is fit to stand trial.

The diagnosis comes nearly two years after the ABC uncovered the Wakeley attacker's severe behavioural issues, mental health concerns and interactions with extremists.

After the attack, the teenager's parents told the 7.30 program their son had a history of violence and serious anger management issues, as well as cognitive and psychological concerns from an early age.

The ABC also revealed a series of intelligence and policing failures in the lead-up to the stabbing.

'Unsatisfactory' delays, nearly two years after attack

Magistrate Megan Heywood criticised "unsatisfactory" delays in the Wakeley attacker's case.

She asked why he was only recently diagnosed with schizophrenia, given his mental health had been a concern since the night of the attack.

The teenager was briefly sectioned in a mental health hospital after the stabbing, before being taken into custody, where he remains nearly two years on.

Ms Hackett told the court mental health professionals had only been willing to provide a diagnosis since he turned 18.

He faces a maximum penalty of life in jail for charges including committing a terrorist act, the attempted murder of Bishop Emmanuel and wounding a priest with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He is accused of stabbing the controversial bishop at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in revenge for criticism of the prophet Mohammad that aggravated Sydney's IS network.

The young people cannot be named because they were juveniles at the time of the alleged offences.

Red flags missed in lead-up to attack

Authorities missed a series of red flags in the lead-up to the Wakeley attack, as revealed by the ABC last year.

NSW Police arrested the boy five months before the stabbing over a knife attack with a teenager on a government deradicalisation program whose father was a jailed jihadist.

However, the Wakeley attacker was not put on a counter-terrorism watchlist or offered access to a deradicalisation program in the lead-up to the stabbing of the bishop.

He and several teenage associates were also associating with a notorious alleged IS recruiter, Wassim Fayad, one of Australia's highest priority counterterrorism targets who was identified by police in 2021 as a high risk of grooming young people into terrorism.

Fayad was identified by police more than a decade ago as a member of a Sydney IS cell that recruited teenagers for attacks, including the shooting of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta in 2015.

A former undercover agent last year told Four Corners he had repeatedly warned Australia's domestic spy agency, ASIO, about a potential attack on Bishop Emmanuel, from nearly two years before it happened.

The threats to target the bishop were in an extremist group chat, which was later found to include the Wakeley attacker, Fayad and the teenager who was on the deradicalisation program.

The same former ASIO spy, codenamed Marcus, last month claimed to Four Corners that he shared intelligence with the agency about the alleged radicalisation of Bondi gunmen Naveed and Sajid Akram more than six years before the Bondi Beach massacre that killed 15 people.

At least one of the Bondi attackers and several in the Wakeley attacker's alleged terrorist network had been followers of Wisam Haddad, a spiritual leader of Australia's IS network.

The Wakeley attacker's case was on Friday adjourned to April 10 for a committal hearing.

However, the court heard a hearing could be held sooner to determine whether he was fit to stand trial.

His four teenage associates, who are accused of conspiring to plot a second attack, have been ordered to return to court on March 27.

The court heard they were in negotiations over charges with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Two of them are on bail.

The sixth teenager, who is also on bail, is due to return to court on March 13 for a committal hearing over filmed bashings of gay and bisexual teenagers.

Another four teenagers have been found guilty of assault and aggravated robbery offences over the bashings.