Jaden Duong, the man standing trial for the explosion outside the Australian Christian Lobby in December, researched the group, and how to create a bomb, prior to allegedly setting a van filled with gas bottles alight.
The Australian Capital Territory Police had previously declared that the Duong was not “politically, religiously or ideologically motivated”, but documents tendered to the court yesterday revealed that he had declared a dislike of the Australian Christian Lobby, and had a dislike of religion because of it’s position on sexuality.
Duong, 36, suffered severe burns and spent months in hospital recovering after he drove a van filled with six gas bottles to into the car park in front of the ACL’s Canberra headquarters and set them alight. The resulting explosion caused significant damage to the building.
Yesterday in the ACT’s Supreme Court he pleaded not guilty to charges of arson and property damage. His lawyers said they did not dispute the police’s version of what had occurred, but argued that Duong was mentally impaired at the time of the explosion.
Court documents reveal that in the weeks leading up to the event Duong had allegedly searched online for information on how to create an explosion, googling “how much gas to cause an explosion”, “countries with same sex marriage” and “Australian Christian Lobby”.
When police interviewed Duong at a Canberra hospital immediately after the explosion he allegedly told them he picked the location “Because I dislike the Australian Christian Lobby.” Asked why, he allegedly said: “Because religions are failed.”
The documents said he was asked what he aimed to achieve and allegedly replied that he wanted to “blow myself up”. A statement he repeated several times in his interview.
The Australian has reported that Duong previously volunteered for a LGBTI organisation in San Francisco and helped out on the campaign of a “gay activist politician”.
OIP Staff
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