Youths Arrested Over Riverland High School Massacre Plot Have Been Released

Released on good behaviour bonds.


Article heading image for Youths Arrested Over Riverland High School Massacre Plot Have Been Released

Two youths who threatened the lives of staff and students at a high school in South Australia's Riverland have been released on good behaviour bonds.

The pair, who cannot be named, were arrested in 2017 over allegations they were planning a mass school attack using homemade weapons and body armour.

The 18 and 20-year-old were due to stand trial accused of conspiring to murder but in February pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge

of aggravated threatening of life after prosecutors conceded they never intended to carry out the shooting.

In the Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice Kevin Nicholson imposed six-month jail sentences on the pair but suspended the terms, placing them on three-year good behaviour bonds.

Justice Nicholson said he had taken into account their age and other factors, including the 18 months they had spent in detention since being arrested.

The judge said the youths, who were 16 and 18 at the time of their offending, had wanted to create a fear that their plan would likely be carried out.

However, he said he accepted they never intended to commit murder or proceed with the "expressed plan".

"Your plan was to frighten, to terrify and to present yourself to your school associates and perhaps the wider community as school shooters who meant business," Justice Nicholson said.

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AAP

23 May 2019

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AAP




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