GALAEA FOUND GUILTY OF COMMITTING ACTS OF TERRORISM

CDPP v Galea [2020] VSC 750 (20 November 2020)

This is a sentencing proceeding involving the accused, Philip Galae, who is found guilty of two offences namely:

(1) Doing acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act; and
(2) Attempting to make a document likely to facilitate a terrorist act,
contrary to s.101.6 and ss11.1(1) and S.101.5(1) of the Criminal Code.

Facts:

As to the first offence, he engaged in a number of acts, such as conducting preliminary research into the Melbourne Anarchist Club, Trades Hall and the Resistance Centre.

That research included conducting internet searches of the organisations online, going and visiting their buildings to check out the layout and security, and taking photos or videos while you were there.

The Resistance Centre was the target for which he had done the most research and preparation. He also encouraged or sought to recruit people to participate in attacks on left-wing targets, and provided some of them with instructions and details of your proposed attacks.

And as to the second offence, he attempted to make a document called the Patriot’s Cookbook (“The Cookbook”).  The Cookbook was something which you intended to distribute when it was completed to people who shared your views, to equip and encourage them to go out and commit violent acts against your common enemies.

Issue: What should the sentence of the accused be?

Held:

In sentencing for a terrorism offence, the dominant considerations are the protection of the community, punishment, denunciation, and deterrence.

The personal circumstances of the offender, and their prospects of rehabilitation, will generally be given less weight than in other types of offending.

As far as his motivations and moral culpability are concerned, he intended to intimidate portions of the public and the government.  His overall aims were not limited to causing property damage.  He spoke candidly of his desire to kill or injure people whom he perceived to be the enemy, through particularly violent means. 

He spoke of wanting to witness the “mass extermination” of the left, and wanting to “put them in the oven” with Muslims, and “crush them like bugs”. 

Galae tried to recruit militants who were willing to join him in creating a Muslim-free country.

Galae aligned himself with a number of extremist groups, focussing on the most militant factions he could find.  Galae was not only planning specific attacks on two particular buildings, he was also attempting to create a detailed document that would enable other extremists to follow in his footsteps.

Although Galae does not have a history of violent offending, his prospects of rehabilitation are complex, given the strength of his conspiracy theories and beliefs, and the types of vulnerability factors involved. There is still some need for specific deterrence and community protection in this case.

Whilst there is some possibility of Galae moving out of protection into less restrictive conditions at some stage in the future, the evidence persuades the court that he is likely to remain in onerous protection conditions for the foreseeable future.

So, for charge 1, the court sentences the accused to 10 years’ imprisonment, commencing immediately.  This is the base sentence. For charge 2, the court sentence the accused to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Although the political, religious or ideological cause that underpins both offences is the same, and they were both being committed over the same general period, charges 1 and 2 involve discrete types of offending. Further, the conduct in relation to charge 2 went further than the conduct relating to charge 1, and was more serious.  There needs to be accumulation to reflect those matters.  The orders that 2 years of the sentence for charge 2 be accumulated on the base sentence.

In order to achieve that accumulation, the court will order that the sentence for charge 2 is to commence 6 years after the commencement of the sentence for charge 1.

Conclusion:

Therefore, the total effective sentence is 12 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 9 years.

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