(Sydney Morning Herald) A convert to Islam who said he was “gearing up for martyrdom” weeks after he approached police with a knife and threatened to behead them has told a court he recently requested the Jewish holy book in prison and intends to convert to Orthodox Judaism.
Blake Nicolas Pender, 28, was arrested in June 2017 after he walked up behind a female police officer in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills with a knife hidden up his sleeve. Nine minutes earlier, he had downloaded the Islamic State flag on a stolen phone.
Another officer saw Pender standing menacingly behind the female officer and intervened. Pender made comments about cutting off the heads of police after he was “taken down,” a court was told, and later made threatening comments to a magistrate in court when he was refused bail.
