Terrorist’s son caught with knuckle dusters

The imprisonment of an infamous Australian terrorist led to the man’s son giving up on himself and committing “minor” offences, a court has been told.

Ibrahim Benbrika, 24, on Thursday appeared in court, where the magistrate and defence lawyer said there was no radicalisation element to any of the offending, which he had admitted to.

Benbrika’s father, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, is a convicted terrorist who spent nearly 20 years in prison for plotting to attack major Australian public events.

In the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Ibrahim’s lawyer said the 24-year-old’s family had been the target of aggression and trespassing from media in relation to Abdul’s release from custody.

As Abdul’s parole was repeatedly denied, and he was sentenced to further time in custody because of safety concerns even after his prison term expired, Ibrahim gave up on himself and acted out, defence lawyer Isabelle Skaburskis said.

Ibrahim admitted to five charges for incidents between July 2021 and July 2022.

Ibrahim was found to have knuckle dusters in his bag at Melbourne Airport security in January 2022. He admitted to stealing petrol twice a few months earlier and speeding and driving while disqualified in mid-2022.

For the knuckle duster charge – possessing a prohibited weapon without an exemption – he was convicted and discharged.

For the petrol drive-offs he will pay back the $145 he stole and is on a good behaviour bond until the end of the year. For the driving offences he was fined $1000 and suspended from driving for two months, which runs alongside a suspension he’s currently serving.

“You are somebody who is back on track,” magistrate Heather Lambrick said.

“He’s in the unfortunate position where the attention given to these matters is far greater than someone who would come to the Magistrates’ Court with relatively minor charges,” she said.

“There’s nothing on record to suggest there’s any radicalisation attached to your offending.”

Ibrahim appeared by video link, sitting inside a lawyer’s office.

Ms Skaburskis said Abdul Benbrika was a “bit of a media sensation”, and the attention on the large family had been distressing for them.

In 2008 Abdul was found guilty of intentionally being the leader and a member of a terrorist organisation in a trial that was told the AFL grand final and Crown Casino were possible terrorism targets.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but the authorities held him custody even after his sentence expired. Then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton unconstitutionally cancelled Abdul’s citizenship.

Ms Skaburskis said as the father’s parole was denied in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and as Abdul faced the prospect of deportation because of the citizenship revocation, the “law-abiding” Benbrika family were under immense distress.

Abdul went to prison when Ibrahim was two years old.

“He had literally been waiting his whole life for his father to come home,” Ms Skaburskis said.

Abdul was released under very strict conditions in December 2023.

But while his father’s fate was uncertain, Ibrahim and the family were targets of “very high-profile vilification in the media”, which drove the young man to a confused and angry state of mind, his lawyer said.

“He started getting involved in a lifestyle that was reckless. Not through violence or radical ideology, he just started to give up on himself,” Ms Skaburskis said.

When police arrested him for stealing petrol, he said he had been using cannabis and Xanax and could not remember stealing the petrol but probably did do it.

“He knew he was disappointing his family and God,” Ms Skaburskis said.

“What’s remarkable is he led himself out of it.”

Ibrahim started spending more time in NSW and got into a relationship. He had been working as a roof plumber since leaving school in year 10, the court was told.

But it was in the midst of the reckless behaviour that Ibrahim held onto his friend’s knuckle dusters, Ms Skaburskis said.

Ibrahim was trying to hide them from his mother and forgot they were in the bag when he went to the airport to travel to Sydney. The magistrate accepted this explanation.

“Where Mr Benbrika is in life (now) is dramatically different to where he was in 2021,” Ms Skaburskis said.

While Abdul was in prison the father called the family every day, was closely involved in their lives, and now he was released the family were under “more surveillance than one could shake a stick at”, Ms Skaburskis said.

Ibrahim only briefly spoke to the court to confirm he understood what he was being convicted of and at what rate he could pay off the fine.

“I accept Mr Benbrika has turned his life around,” Ms Lambrick said.

Abdul was pegged as the spiritual leader of a group of 17 men arrested across Sydney and Melbourne in relation to the terrorist group.

Police said the group had no specific target picked for a bomb, which covert recordings caught them discussing, but at trial the AFL grand final and former prime minister John Howard were thrown up as possible targets of their plotting.

Four of the men arrested were found not guilty.