A Sydney man sentenced to 12 months in jail after planting homemade bomb outside pro-Palestinian’s house, despite the court being told about his extensive mental health challenges.
David Maurice Wise, 43, faced the Downing Centre court on Tuesday, receiving a non-parole period of three months and a subsequent two-year community corrections order. Wise being charged with leaving or sending a substance/article to create false belief danger, stalking and intimidating, entering inclosed land without lawful excuse and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
The homemade bomb, a jerry can modified with a semi-moist towel, a lighter, and large bolts, was discovered on a vehicle’s bonnet in the Botany area of Sydney. The car was parked in the driveway of a home where the Palestinian flag and a board with statements about the Gaza war had been displayed on the front fence. A note taped to the side of the device read “Enough! Take down flag! One chance!!!!”
The courthouse heard how Wise also contacted the victims by phone from a booth prior to the bomb’s discovery. His arrest followed almost two months after the incident, on March 7th. In court, Wise’s defence described his extensive mental health challenges, including depressive episodes, violent dreams, and suicidal ideation. A peculiar claim suggested Wise only had a “dream-like memory of planting the bomb”, a detail not sufficient to mitigate the gravity of his actions.
Magistrate Megan Greenwood defined the offence as “serious” and stressed the importance of community protection, acknowledging Wise’s persecutory delusions connected to his Jewish heritage and exacerbated by mental health concerns. Greenwood explained, “This offending arose because of persecutory delusions and beliefs you’ve had, you strongly identify with your culture and heritage and the terrible experiences of your family and others that suffered greatly during the holocaust.”
The aftermath of Wise’s actions has had lasting repercussions on the victims, with the court hearing the relationship between the two residents at the target home subsequently deteriorated. The magistrate said the board and the flag had triggered Wise, and they were “difficult” for him to deal with.
At the time, the man who lives in the house, Theo, whose last name is being withheld for safety reasons, told Guardian Australia he had felt “scared, intruded on, violated and angry: “I don’t know what to think. I’ve had a lot of messages of support from people, which means a lot, but unfortunately this did happen.” He said he had intended the board of messages to be a way to start a dialogue on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Relevant articles:
– Sydney man sentenced to 12 months in jail after planting homemade bomb outside pro-Palestinian’s house | Australia news, theguardian.com, 05/09/2024
– Why is a judicial inquiry investigating the historical ‘Croatian Six’ bomb plot convictions?, SBS, 05/09/2024
– Man jailed for planting ‘bomb’ over Palestine dispute, Goulburn Post, 05/07/2024
– As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, May 7, Brisbane Times, 05/07/2024