Perth man charged with racial harassment for alleged post backing Bondi attack | Bondi beach terror attack
A man accused of posting an anti-Semitic social media message supporting the Bondi massacre will spend Christmas behind bars.
Martin Thomas Glynn, 39, was arrested and charged in the Perth suburb of Yangebup after a concerned member of the public reported him to police.
Officers said they raided Glynn’s home on Tuesday and seized a number of firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and flags linked to banned terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Glynn appeared before Fremantle magistrates court on Wednesday to face charges of alleged racial abuse, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon and failing to properly store a firearm.
He appeared in court without legal representation and was detained before his next hearing in February.
Allegedly, Glynn posted on social media in the hours following the terrorist attack on Bondi beach on December 14, in which 15 people died after two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of Jewish believers celebrating Hanukkah.
“It’s appalling that anyone would say anything in the wake of Bondi that would in any way support a horrific, despicable, criminal act of terrorism,” Western Australian police minister Reece Whitby told reporters on Wednesday.
“Words are dangerous. Words have the potential to have disastrous consequences…Anyone who says anything remotely intimidating, anything that implies violence, needs to take action very quickly.”
The state’s acting premier, Rita Saffioti, and police chief Col Blanch praised the man who spoke to police after coming across the online post that allegedly led to Glynn’s arrest.
“The public report was critical and shows how important it is to keep the community in Western Australia safe, but also engage the community in Western Australia in this process,” Whitby said.
Police said Glynn had a gun license for hunting and that all but one of his firearms were registered, but Blanch instructed his officers to begin a process to revoke Glynn’s license.
The defendant is being investigated by officers linked to Operation Dalewood, which was launched by Western Australian police in response to the Bondi attack.
Blanch said he was not known to WA, NSW or federal authorities before his arrest and there was no evidence any attack was planned.
“We do not think there is an ongoing threat. We do not believe there is a network involved. We think it is an individual who made these comments online,” he said.
Whitby reiterated WA’s tough penalties for hate-related crimes, including up to five years in prison for displaying Nazi symbols or giving Nazi salutes and up to 14 years in prison for conduct intended to incite racial hatred.
