Man set fire to Akl mosque & threatened Corrections officers sentenced

A 20-year-old man who was responsible for setting fire to an Auckland mosque and causing an estimated $1.5 million in damage has been sentenced to five years in prison, after a court heard he continued to threaten and assault Corrections officers while on remand.

According to a report by Senior multimedia journalist Craig Kapitan of The New Zealand Herald, the defendant, who has interim name suppression, appeared in Auckland District Court last week for sentencing on multiple charges, including arson, possession of objectionable material and assaults on prison staff.

Judge Kathryn Maxwell sentenced him on Thursday, describing the need to protect the public and deter similar offending.

“Unfortunately, he seems oblivious to the harm he’s caused,” Herald quoted the judge as saying.

The court heard the defendant, who has diagnoses of autism and ADHD, had repeatedly thrown urine and faeces at Corrections officers over the past 18 months while in custody at Mt Eden and Paremoremo prisons. Authorities also alleged he taunted officers about the Christchurch terrorist attack at least once and made threats to shoot them after his release.

“Just remember, bro, one f***ing white man with one f***ing gun, 51 of you f***ing immigrants got smoked,” he yelled at one point last November as eight officers surrounded him after a “futile attempt” to assault one of them through a small gap in a cell door, Herald has reported.

“Just wait. I’ve only f***ing been arrested once in my life. You don’t think they will give me parole? I’m sniping your a***, boy. You are getting sniped when I get out of here boy. F***ing white power, boy.”

The Herald reported the defendant disrupted proceedings during sentencing by flexing in front of the courtroom camera, pounding on it after being muted and referring to the judge as “Her Majesty”.

The case stems from a November 2024 fire at Imam Reza Mosque in New Lynn. Court documents stated the defendant entered the mosque around midnight after smashing a side door with a scaffolding pole taken from a nearby construction site.

“He went through the rooms, occasionally damaging a picture or ornament with his scaffolding pole,” the agreed summary of facts stated.

After finding a lighter inside the building, he attempted to ignite several items before successfully setting fire to a curtain separating the main prayer area.

“After a number of attempts, [he] was successful in setting fire to an internal curtain about 1.8m high, which separated the main prayer room,” court documents stated.

“The curtain burned quickly, with a significant amount of smoke and flame. [He] grabbed the scaffolding pole and ran from the mosque.”

The blaze smouldered for hours before being discovered. While the fire did not spread extensively due to a lack of oxygen, the mosque suffered severe internal damage and was left unusable.

“The fire destroyed all internal linings and furniture, melted ceiling panels and caused smoke damage throughout the building,” court documents stated, Herald has reported. 

“Many religious items that had been ordered from outside New Zealand when the mosque was built were completely destroyed.

“This included copies of the Quran, prayer notes and specific hand-woven embroidered material.”

An insurance assessment later estimated the damage at $1.5 million.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, mosque representatives said the impact on the community extended far beyond financial loss.

“The mosque is far more than just a building – it is a place of worship, peace, learning and unity for many families,” the statement said, according to the Herald report.

The 1500-member congregation said programmes, events and community gatherings were disrupted for 18 months while repairs were carried out.

“This incident also created fear and distress among members, particularly families, women and children who no longer feel the same sense of safety attending the mosque,” the statement continued.

“It has caused emotional harm and shaken the trust and comfort that people once had in their place of worship.”

The mosque reopened last weekend.

Police arrested the defendant on the same day as the fire and later recovered objectionable material from his home, including the manifesto of Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant and videos of both the 2019 Christchurch attacks and a 2022 mass shooting in the United States.

The Herald reported the defendant later told authorities he aspired to kill more people than the Christchurch gunman.

While in custody, the defendant accumulated multiple assault charges involving Corrections officers. In one incident, he caused a senior officer to suffer a minor concussion after throwing two punches without warning. In another, he punched a handcuffed officer in the face, splitting his lip.

Court documents also detailed several incidents in which he threw urine or mixtures of faeces and milk at prison staff.

“This was distressing to the individual officers and posed an obvious health hazard,” the documents stated.

During one confrontation, the defendant reportedly directed racist remarks at officers he perceived to be immigrants.

“I’m a f***ing white man, this is my f***ing country,” he said.

“We built this s***. They just ship you c***s in because nobody else wants to do these s*** jobs.”

Police prosecutor Yara Alrubayee argued the assaults should be viewed as hate crimes because the victims appeared to be of different ethnicities from the defendant.

“To call it anything other than a hate crime would minimise the assault against these officers who were just trying to do their job,” she said.

Defence lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade, KC, said none of the assaults should be viewed in a racial context – it’s not what her client agreed to when pleading guilty and focused on her client’s mental health struggles and youth during sentencing submissions.

The court heard the defendant’s family had sought mental health support for him before the mosque attack after increasingly erratic behaviour, including locking himself in a bathroom for 20 hours, climbing on to a supermarket roof and expressing conspiracy theories and delusional ideas.

Kincade said her client would likely have been under mental health care if he had not been remanded in custody, and argued prolonged isolation in a high-security unit had worsened his behaviour.

However, Crown prosecutor Sarah Murphy described the defendant’s extremist ideology as “entrenched”.

“He just hasn’t expressed any interest whatsoever in deradicalisation,” she told the court.

“We’d all be relieved if [he] wanted to be disengaged but he just doesn’t.”

Judge Maxwell said autism did not excuse the defendant’s actions or his extremist beliefs.

“Autism does not predispose someone to violence,” she said.

“He has very much been the author of his actions.”

The judge adopted a seven-year starting point for the arson charge before adding further time for the other offending, including setting a fire in his prison cell and attempting to assault another inmate with a sandwich press after an argument over chess.

She later reduced the overall sentence by 50% for factors including youth, mental health and guilty pleas, resulting in a final sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

Judge Maxwell also declined the defendant’s application for permanent name suppression, although interim suppression remains while he considers an appeal to the High Court.

“He appears to speak with pride,” the judge said, noting the defendant laughed at the prospect of paying restitution to the mosque.

“There is no remorse.”

The judge said members of the mosque community remained fearful because they did not know who had targeted them.

“Thought must be given to their vulnerability,” she said.

“He appears to present a real risk to the wider community," Herald quoted.