Melbourne jury finds Bourke Street driver guilty
November 13, 2018
The Melbourne Supreme Court jury took less than an hour Tuesday to find James Gargasoulas guilty on all 33 charges against him, including six counts of murder and 27 counts of reckless driving. He had pleaded not guilty.
Sentencing will take place next January.
The 28-year-old sped through Melbourne's Bourke Street shopping mall and along sidewalks on January 20 2017. The six dead included a baby and a 10-year-old girl. The oldest victim was 33.
The incident came amid global concern over extremists using vehicles to strike crowds that peaked during fatal truck attacks by jihadists - in Nice, France in July 2016, and in Berlin, Germany in December 2016.
Led by 'premonition'
The 2017 motorized assault in Melbourne ranked as one of Australia's worst killings since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre on Tasmania island.
Justice Mark Weinberg told the jury that Gargasoulas could not argue that he was mentally ill, because instead he had asserted he had drug-induced delusions.
The accused testified at the trial on Monday that he was led by a premonition to hit people but not to kill anyone.
Outside the court, a lawyer for families of five of the victims, Genna Angelowitsch accused Gargasoulas of an "intentional, callous act."
Stopping hate crimes
As Melbourne's court announced its verdict Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison asserted that Australia's Muslim "religious communities" should do more to stop hate crimes.
Federal parliamentary opposition leader Bill Shorten said the attack last Friday was an "evil tragedy," but said no one group should be blamed.
Australia's Muslim parliamentarian, Anne Aly, said she was "frustrated" with politicians blaming "an entire community wholly and solely" after terror attacks.
More attacks
The assault along Bourke Street — close to Victoria State's parliament — occurred just a block from a recent fatal attack.
Last Friday, Somali-born Hassain Khalif Shire Ali, 30, was shot and killed by police after stabbing and killing a well-known cafe bar owner and wounding two others.
Ali had been "inspired" by the terrorist network Islamic State, said Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton – "as opposed to affiliation or membership."
Victoria's state premier Daniel Andrews promised a state funeral for the restaurateur Sisto Malaspina, aged 74. A by-passer has been acclaimed for intervening with a shopping trolley
In 2014, a Sydney cafe siege staged by an Islamic State "lone wolf" ended with two hostages dead.
ipj/jm (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)