Ihsas Khan, 24, pleads not guilty to terrorist act because of mental illness as trial begins

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A self-radicalised Sydney man stabbed his neighbour in an Islamic State-inspired attack to avenge US bombings of his “brothers and sisters in Iraq”, a court has been told.

Ihsas Khan pleaded not guilty on Monday to committing a terrorist act and wounding with intent to murder after his neighbour, Wayne Greenhalgh, was stabbed multiple times at a Minto reserve in 2016.

Khan, 24, who had been taking anti-psychotic medication at the time, pleaded not guilty due to mental illness as his supreme court trial got under way in Parramatta.

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The prosecutor, Peter Neil SC, told the jury Khan repeatedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked the then 57-year-old without warning on Saturday 10 September.

The court heard that Khan had originally planned to attack a stranger on 11 September to mark the anniversary of the 2001 al-Qaida attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

But a day earlier, Khan spotted his victim wearing a T-shirt with an American motif and decided to enact “revenge for what he regarded as injustices for Muslims in the Middle East”, Neil said.

Khan allegedly said Americans had killed his “brothers and sisters in Iraq” and yelled out: “You rape our women, you rape our children, you bomb our country.”

“He was a self-radicalised extremist Muslim and Islamic State supporter,” Neil said in his opening address. “The accused wanted to become a martyr.”

Khan used a large hunting knife to inflict life-threatening injuries on his victim’s arms, hands and body, the court heard.

“Mr Greenhalgh ran for his life, he was bleeding profusely,” the prosecutor said.

When police arrived at the scene, Khan tried to stab an officer through a car window and said: “Kill me, I am here to die.”

Police tasered Khan several times before he was arrested. Neil said he had later asked one detective: “What does it take to get shot by cops?”

The prosecutor said Khan considered himself to be “discharging his obligation to jihad”.

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Neil said the “intelligent” university student had been motivated by a religious, political or ideological cause and had sought to either influence the Australian government or intimidate the public.

The defence barrister, Mark Ierace SC, told the jurors many of the facts of the stabbing would not be disputed owing to Khan admitting to the attack.

But he said Khan suffered schizophrenia and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder at the time and a central issue the trial would examine was his mental state.

The prosecutor argued that Khan’s psychiatric condition did not stop him controlling his actions or knowing they were wrong.

The trial before Justice Geoffrey Bellew continues.