Wassim Fayad,56,was jailed for a maximum of seven years in 2015 after failing to steal an ATM,helping a homophobic killer leave the country and lashing a man dozens of times with a cable.
Wassim Fayad at Burwood court in 2012 during his trial for whipping a man.Ben Rushton
Fayad was spoken to by Joint Counter-terrorism Team (JCTT) officers who raided several south-west suburbs on Wednesday. Those raids were in response to a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel multiple times during a live-streamed service at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on April 15.
Fayad has not been charged over the anti-terror raids.
Islamic State jail visits and extremist views
Court documents seen by this masthead reveal Fayad,also referred to as Fred Toufuc Alameddine and Abu Zakariyah,sympathised with Islamic State terrorists while housed at Goulburn Correctional Centre’s high-risk management unit.
After his release,he was placed on a two-year extended supervision order - but a judge last year ruled against extending that order after finding he did not show an unacceptable risk of committing terrorism offences.
Justice Robertson Wright’s NSW Supreme Court decision to place Fayad on an extended supervision order in 2021 outlined psychologist Dr Seidler’s concerning comments about Fayad in jail.
Seidler said Fayad acknowledged his strong support for Islamic State and their activities in about 2013 but “had come to disagree” with them “because they oppressed and harmed Muslim people”.
He showed similar views of other terrorist groups,telling Seidler they were his “brothers” and some had “good intentions”.
Seidler found that although Fayad said it was not his “intention” to be violent or engage in terrorism,“it was evident that his personal ideology continued to be extreme and that he continued to associate closely with people who held similarly extremist views and who condoned violent extremism in addition to being influenced by these people in his own thinking”.
He also told Seidler the government was the devil,the ruling states.
Wright referenced evidence a man who visited Fayad in jail several times was jailed for 20 years for preparing for a terrorist act - with his last visit weeks before his conviction.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed during a live-streamed church service at a church in Wakeley in south-westSupplied
Another regular visitor of Fayad’s was jailed for attempting to send funds to Islamic State in 2014.
A second psychologist,Dr Fardia,expressed concern about “violent extremist ideological material” found by police in Fayad’s garage in late 2013.
The crown submitted Fayad sent the names and numbers of young men who travelled to Syria to fight to a man who was later convicted of aiding terrorists.
In an intercepted phone call,that man was heard saying to Fayad:“You’re a true leader,brother,” to which Fayad replied:“That’s what I need,brother … I need someone like you”.
Fayad was placed on a supervision order upon his release and was subject to strict conditions,including wearing an electronic ankle monitor,and barred from possessing weapons or associating with certain people.
Fayad breached his order twice in 2022 by communicating with a banned associate.
In February 2023,Supreme Court judge Deborah Sweeney rejected an application to extend the supervision order.
Fayad’s defence lawyers submitted Fayad’s “alleged support of Islamic State had changed over time” and there was no evidence he currently supports any terrorist organisation.
Supporters of teenagers arrested in the raids leave Parramatta Children’s Court on Thursday.Dion Georgopoulos
Sweeney accepted he had in the past expressed support for engaging in terrorism activities,but noted a doctor had concluded Fayad’s risk of violent extremism dropped from high to moderate from 2020 to 2022.
“Apart from the breaches of his extended supervision order,Mr Fayad’s last offence occurred 10 years ago. It was not a terrorism offence,” Sweeney said,adding she was not satisfied the state had “shown to a high degree of probability that Mr Fayad poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence” if not supervised.
An ABC Investigations report first named Fayad in connection with Wednesday’s raids. This masthead verified this with police sources not authorised to speak publicly.
Whipping,helping a killer and failed ram raids
Fayad’s troubling criminal history was revealed in further court documents.
On May 15,2013,while Fayad was on bail and due to be sentenced for whipping a man who sought religious guidance with a cable 40 times,he and two others used two stolen cars to crash through the glass front doors of Macquarie Shopping Centre in Sydney’s north.
They could not dislodge the ATMs,meaning no money was taken. A speed camera caught them fleeing.
Fayad was not yet charged over the failed ram raid when he was sentenced for the lashing assault and jailed,but was released from custody on appeal bail 10 days later.
A few months later,Fayad committed another crime - this time by being an accessory after the fact to the shooting of Michael Rooke at a gay nightclub in Rydalmere.
Fayad was friends with one of three men who carried out the shooting on May 1,2013,had knowledge of his friend’s involvement in the murder and told him to leave the country because he was going to be arrested.
On November 29,2013,Fayad was arrested for the failed ram raid and assisting the shooter. He was refused bail and ultimately sentenced on November 27,2015,to seven years in jail to with a non-parole period of four years and nine months.
He failed to appeal his sentence in the NSW Criminal Court of Appeal and was released in November 2020.