A man accused of plotting a failed terrorist attack was a “depressed, lonely and isolated” young person who was merely fantasising as a form of escapism, his lawyer has told a court.
Jayson Joseph Michaels, 20, made a bid for bail at a hearing in the Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where he appeared via video link from prison.
Mr Michaels was remanded in custody after being charged with terrorism and weapons offences, following a raid at his parents’ Bindoon home, about 75km northeast of Perth, in February.
Police allege they found a written manifesto containing plans to carry out an attack of extreme violence with mass casualties at Parliament House, police headquarters and mosques in Perth.
Dozens of rounds of ammunition, guns and knives were allegedly seized during the raid.
Authorities believe Mr Michaels was radicalised online and motivated by white supremacist ideology and hate sites.
But his lawyer Christian Porter argued it was a case of a depressed, isolated and lonely youth writing things down as a form of escapism with no real intention to carry them out.
Mr Porter said the prosecution’s case was weak and relied on Mr Michaels’ diary which was peppered with big grandiose ideas that were never going to happen.
He argued while Mr Michaels’ diary was shocking and awful, the prosecution’s reliance on his diary entries made their case weak.
“The fact the applicant chose this world to escape into is despicable and disgusting, but what is written here represents a level of escapism and an attempt to make friends,” he said.
“Saying things that are never going to happen.”
Commonwealth prosecutor Kirsten Nelson told the court whether or not he intended to carry out the actions he kept in diary entries and said in online chat groups was a matter for a jury.
Ms Nelson said the accused consulted manifestos of right wing mass killers and white supremacists, researched sites he planned to attack, discussed his plans in online chat forums and consumed violent content on his computer.
“When police arrived in his bedroom, open on his browser was a video Watch People Die,” she said.
The prosecutor argued Mr Michaels had listed a timeline of things to achieve over the coming years and was progressively planning steps to take before his “day of justice.”
She said he wrote about the Bondi terror attack and said it failed in comparison to what he had planned.
She alleged Mr Michaels had practised picking locks in his bedroom and researched the entry points of a Perth mosque, and when people would be there that would be the most advantageous time to carry out an attack.
“He consults other people who he thinks might be experts on more than one occasions,” she said.
“He referred to avoiding ASIO and anticipates some notoriety about the attack and designed a patch to put on jacket he will wear.
“He refers to point scoring, which is a reference to a manifesto he downloaded on particular actions taken during a terrorist attack.
“He says, ‘What will they all think when my case is on TV.’”
Ms Nelson said the 20-year-old’s diary demonstrated how Mr Michaels would finance and stockpile weapons and ammunition he planted to used in a terrorist act.
“He is not a child this is an offence or course of conduct over a period of time, not an act of impulse,” she argued.
Magistrate Belinda Coleman said she reviewed the diary, and data from his devices and searches me made online.
She said the diary was found in a locked drawer in his bedroom.
“(They are) not just uttered ramblings of a disturbed mind,” she said.
“There appears to be evidence that the accused was undertaking research on the internet to make explosives and research on firearm construction by a 3D computer and was liaising with others about how to craft such weapons.”
Magistrate Belinda Coleman said after reviewing the material she would describe it as the “writings of a disturbed youth.”
She said the accused has not satisfied her that there are exceptional circumstances to grant bail, and refused bail.
Mr Michaels is due to appear in court next month.
