A 16-year-old boy charged with terrorism offences following the Sydney church stabbing allegedly sent text messages declaring he was “going to kill non-believers” before the attack was carried out by an alleged associate.

Australian police allege the 16-year-old is an associate of the other 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel six times at an Assyrian Orthodox church on April 15.

Emmanuel was delivering a live streamed sermon around 7pm when he was attacked by an assailant.

His alleged attacker was charged with terrorism offences, while four others, believed to be associates, were arrested following widespread search warrants.

An Assyrian bishop is stabbed during a service at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.

On Tuesday, a 16-year-old appeared in the Children’s Court charged with conspiring to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act and having a knife in a public place, according to news.com.au.

Chelsea Brain, Crown Prosecutor, told the court that messages discussed carrying out an attack against “non-believers”.

A 16-year-old boy charged with terrorism offences in connection with the Sydney church stabbing allegedly declared he was “going to kill” in messages about carrying out a plan against non-believers.

The Crown claims the teens talked about getting “nerf guns” for $2000, which it alleges is a code term for “dirty guns”. One message also referred to the weapons as a “shotty”.

According to the Crown, the 16-year-old allegedly wrote: “This is serious s***. We’re going to kill but we need patience.”

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Brain alleged the 16-year-old had shown support for people involved in the church stabbing and had been actively considering “some act of violence on members of the community”.

The court was also told he had changed his social media profile picture to one of him holding a gun in front of an Islamic State flag.

Brain also said in a message to another unrelated group, the teen admitted to making plans of some type of attack.

Those messages allegedly said: “We were planning big stuff, bro. It’s conspiracy. Conspiracy for a terror attack I think.

“We were planning something huge here bro, you don’t understand. Huge.”

The court was told the messages began in March.

The Crown argued the teen shouldn’t be released on bail, claiming the protection of the community “is a very live consideration”.

However, the teen’s lawyer, Greg James, KC, hit back.

“We don’t know, even from all the material, even from an analysis of all the text messages sent … what the terrorist act is said to be, how much had actually been agreed upon … or what had been a matter of speculation or conjecture,” he told the court.

“The appropriate course is not to hold a young person in custody while the prosecution sorts out their ducks.”

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley was stabbed during a church service on April 15.

The 16-year-old’s lawyer said his client has no criminal record and said he’s an “exemplary” and “law-abiding” citizen.

The lawyer said there is nothing in his client’s history that indicates he would be involved in any illegal or violent acts.

However, Magistrate Janet Wahlquist refused bail for the 16-year-old.

“He was clearly aware that what he was doing amounted to terrorism. That did not stop him,” she said.

Five charged in connection to church stabbing

Five children have been charged in connection with the stabbing of an Orthodox Christian bishop.

A joint counterterrorism team involving 400 police officers undertook 13 raids at several homes across Sydney.

Two males, aged 17 and 14, were charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.

One boy, aged 17, was charged with conspiring to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act and custody of a knife in a public place.

Two boys, both aged 16, face offences for conspiring to engage in any act in preparation for or planning a terrorist act.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged over the stabbing of Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and priest Isaac Royel during a live-streamed service at Christ the Good Shepherd Church on April 15.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.