Lawyers for an 18-year-old accused of aiding and abetting the murder of police accountant Curtis Cheng say the teenager “will be fighting the charges”.
Raban Alou, of Wentworthville in Sydney’s west, declined to apply for bail on Friday, and it was formally refused, after being charged on Thursday with aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring the commission of a terrorist act.
In a separate appearance before Parramatta local court, the man accused of supplying the gun that killed Cheng was also refused bail.
Talal Alameddine, 22, did not appear before the court to face allegations he provided the gun used by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar to kill Cheng outside Parramatta police headquarters on 2 October.
Alameddine’s lawyer made no application for bail on his behalf, and he was remanded in custody until 10 December.
In Alou’s case, court documents said he was charged with aiding or abetting “the commission of an offence by another person, namely the engagement of a terrorist act by Farhad Jabar Khalid Mohammad” between 9.30am and 4.35pm the day Cheng was killed.
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His lawyer, Moustafa Kheir, said Alou had been charged after being “held in custody for 200 hours for the purposes of interrogation”.
“The charges [police] rely on are circumstantial evidence. This means there’s no direct evidence to support the charges. Raban will be fighting the charges,” he said.
“We ask that the legal process is respected and the matter is left to determination by the court according to evidence and not speculation.”
Outside court Alou’s father, Izat, said his son had been brainwashed.
“I teach him a lot of good things, but if your son doesn’t listen to you, what are you going to do?” Izat Alou said. “Somebody brainwashed him.”
He said he had no sympathy for extremist Islam.
“My son is born here, even I don’t pray and I’m not a practising Muslim. We hate these bloody Isis.”
Raban Alou was detained after raids last Wednesday and held over the weekend on a preventative detention order, which expired shortly before he was charged on Thursday.
He will appear again on 16 December.
