(AAP) A twice-convicted terrorist says he’s disgusted by his part in a plot to detonate bombs and behead people in Melbourne’s Federation Square three years ago.
Abdullah Chaarani has told a Supreme Court pre-sentence hearing he has “realised what an idiot” he was for believing he could wage violent jihad after getting caught up in extremist beliefs fuelled by Islamic State propaganda.
He joined his cousins Ibrahim and Hamza Abbas, and friend Ahmed Mohamed in conspiring to develop the potentially deadly plot, for which they’d bought machetes, carried out reconnaissance and built practice bombs.
Chaarani told the court on Wednesday his father warned him the IS videos and propaganda would land him in jail.
He admitted crying when his father visited him in prison.
