Parents of alleged Sydney church stabber break silence

The parents of the 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed a bishop in an alleged terror attack in Sydney’s west on April 15 have broken their silence.

In an interview due to air on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night, the boy’s mother said she saw her son’s alleged involvement in the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley when her friend sent her a video.

“When I saw him, I threw the phone,” she told the ABC.

“I couldn’t move.”

The ABC’s Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop, who conducted the interview, said he spoke with the boy’s parents from a secret location because they were “still in hiding because they fear reprisals due to that attack causing a riot”, referring to the moments following the attack when about 2000 people swarmed the area near the church, rioting and attacking police.

Rubinsztein-Dunlop told News Breakfast that the boy’s parents sobbed with relief that Bishop Emmanuel survived the stabbing and they insisted their son is “no terrorist”.

“They paint a picture of a life of serious anger management problems and behavioural issues, serious violence, a history of violence, and what they believe, and psychologists have told them may be, an undiagnosed mental health condition, suspected autism spectrum disorder,” he said.

The boy’s parents said their son had previously been violent, both in public and at home, and became dangerous when he was angry.

“In school, I used to get scared whenever I’d get a phone call because I knew that they complained about him,” his mother said.

“He has the nicest heart, but the problem is, when he gets angry, he becomes dangerous.

“When he’s angry, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

The boy’s mother said her ribs were injured last year when she tried to intervene in a fight.

“He didn’t mean it. He was hitting his brother,” she told the ABC.

“I couldn’t imagine he could do something like that.”

The boy’s parents said they believed their son wasn’t “in his right mind” when he allegedly committed the attack.

“If he’s truly religious, like we raised him, he wouldn’t have done that,” his mother said.

“He’s made a big mistake, a very big mistake.

“But I believe he wasn’t in his right mind.”

Following the attack, the boy was charged with a terrorism offence.

Police have since executed search warrants across Sydney and have charged six other teenagers aged between 14 and 17 as they continue to investigate the boy’s associates.