A man who, with two friends, planned to buy an assault rifle to gun down people in Melbourne lacked the fanaticism of other terror plotters and is now “ashamed” of his actions, his lawyer has told a court.
Hanifi Halis was 21 when he and his friends, brothers Ertunc and Samed Eriklioglu, conspired together in November 2018 and began preparations to launch a terror attack in the name of radical Islam.
Hanifi Halis after his arrest on November 20, 2018.Credit:Nine News
The County Court has heard the trio drew inspiration from the Bourke Street terror attack when Hassan Khalif Shire Ali stabbed three men, killing restaurateur Sisto Malaspina and injuring two others. Shire Ali was fatally shot by police.
Halis and the Eriklioglu brothers went as far as paying a $450 cash deposit for a .22 semi-automatic assault rifle but never got their hands on the weapon before they were arrested in raids across Melbourne’s northern suburbs on November 20, 2018.
Samed Eriklioglu.Credit:Channel Nine
During their conspiracy the men also discussed dying as martyrs and watched and listened to online propaganda distributed by terror organisations Islamic State and al-Qaeda, the court heard.
Halis, now 23, Ertunc, 33, and Samed, 28, have each pleaded guilty to conspiring together to do acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
On the second day of their plea hearing, defence barrister Julian McMahon, SC, said the case against the trio was different to other terror prosecutions, as Halis and the Eriklioglu brothers had “pulled back” on their intentions before they were arrested. Other cases were notable for the “crescendo” in a plotter’s mindset before authorities swooped.
Mr McMahon said his client, Halis, wanted his deposit money returned in the days before his arrest as he was worried what would happen if his group was caught with the rifle, and that he had wavered on the group’s intention to plan an attack.
“He’s concerned they have got it all wrong,” Mr McMahon said on Wednesday.
“To say it’s an ideological change of heart is overstating things. There’s a vacillation and an uncertainty. There’s lack of fanaticism and extremism … it’s a pulling back.”
Ertunc Eriklioglu after his arrest on November 20, 2018.Credit:Justin McManus
Prosecutors concede the trio hadn’t developed a specific plan to attack and kill and suspect the men wanted to train with the rifle first.
Mr McMahon said Halis was radicalised in the months beforehand but not to the extent of other terror offenders.
He said that during Halis’ time in custody the young man had abandoned and denounced his radical beliefs, felt “ashamed” of what he had done and had told imams who visited prison he was “keen to stay on the right path”.
“He has promised himself and his teachers … that he believes strongly he has changed since his imprisonment,” Mr McMahon said.
Asked by Judge Michael O’Connell how he could be satisfied of Halis’ shift in thinking without evidence, Mr McMahon said the submission was a matter for the judge to consider but said there was material tendered that “this is a phase in [Halis’] life that has been entered and left”.
The three men watched Wednesday’s hearing on a video link from prison. Lawyers for the Eriklioglu brothers will address Judge O’Connell over the next two days.
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