A South Australian man accused of posting videos online encouraging violent acts against Jewish people has pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to advocating terrorism, detailed ABC court reporter Rebecca Opie.
The 51-year-old Flinders Park man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was charged late last year with four counts of advocating terrorism between April and November 2015.
Police allege he posted videos on social media encouraging people in overseas conflict zones to commit terrorist acts by providing demonstrations with weapons and explicit verbal instructions on how to kill Jewish people.
At the time, Australian Federal Police said he was arrested as a result of information received via the National Security Hotline and that it was the first time anyone in Australia had been charged with advocating terrorism.
They said there was no threats to the Australian community as a result of the man’s activities.
The man appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court via video link where he remained silent as the charges were read as per his lawyer’s instructions, resulting in the automatic recording of not guilty pleas.
His lawyer, Stacey Carter, conceded there was a case to answer and the matter was committed to the District Court.
But, she said alternative charges could be considered by the Director of Public Prosecution’s which did not relate to terrorism and that she was still hopeful of a resolution.
The court previously heard the man was “acutely psychotic” at the time and would have a mental impairment defence available to him.
He was arrested at a facility in Northfield and the court heard he had previously spent time in the secure mental health facility James Nash House.
