Stabbing of bishop at Wakeley church 'could have been prevented', former ASIO agent says

Australia Broadcast Center

21-04-2025

Australia's domestic spy agency, ASIO, was repeatedly warned about a potential attack on a Sydney bishop almost two years before it happened, according to explosive claims by a former undercover agent.
The secret intelligence is among a series of critical red flags apparently missed by ASIO, NSW Police or the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the lead-up to the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Wakeley, in south-west Sydney last year, and uncovered by a months-long Four Corners investigation.
The investigation also reveals counterterrorism authorities failed to intervene when NSW Police arrested the teenage attacker, five months before the stabbing, with a friend who was on a deradicalisation program and whose father was a jailed jihadist.
Authorities appear to have missed another red flag: the Wakeley attacker's associations with a second extremist on the counterterrorism radar, Wassim Fayad, a notorious and violent criminal identified by NSW Police in 2021 as a high risk of recruiting young people into terrorism.
Investigators later found Fayad, the Wakeley attacker and his radicalised friend were in a WhatsApp group chat, 'BROTHERHOOD', which had discussed a potential attack on Bishop Emmanuel.
In an extraordinary interview with Four Corners, the former ASIO agent, codenamed Marcus, claims he first warned the agency about the threats in the BROTHERHOOD group in 2022.
Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was conducting a live-streamed service when he was attacked in April last year.
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"I provided them from the beginning specific information about people who are speaking violently against the bishop," Marcus said.
"It could have been prevented."
Four Corners has been unable to verify when the Wakeley attacker joined the BROTHERHOOD group or whether he discussed an attack.
His participation in the BROTHERHOOD group became the focus of a frantic police investigation into an alleged Islamic State (IS) terrorist network, accused of planning attacks in the aftermath of the stabbing.
The alleged terrorist network included teenage followers of controversial Sydney hate preacher Wisam Haddad, who sits at the centre of Australia's pro-IS network and who is also closely associated with Wassim Fayad, the Four Corners investigation can reveal.
In the wake of the attack at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church last April, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the Wakeley attacker, who cannot be identified because he is a juvenile, was not on "any terrorism watchlist" or "known to us from a terrorism point of view".
But the revelations raise questions about why the boy, who is now 17, was not on the counterterrorism radar.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the Wakeley attacker was not on the radar of counterterrorism authorities before the stabbing.
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NSW Police and the AFP declined to respond to questions about whether there were failures in policing and intelligence sharing, and whether the attack could have been avoided.
A spokesperson for ASIO said "the insinuation ASIO would not act on intelligence about a terrorist attack is as false as it is offensive to officers who work 24/7 to keep Australians safe."
Marcus's undercover mission
Marcus, an imam from the Middle East whose real name is being withheld at his request, says he gained access to the BROTHERHOOD group during a six-year undercover mission for ASIO.
He posed as an extremist preacher to infiltrate a network of IS supporters and terrorists in Sydney until 2023 after being recruited by ASIO with the support of his home country.
Marcus said his intelligence helped Australian authorities prevent multiple attacks, jail IS members, and assist the CIA and MI6 to target terrorists across the world.
By speaking to the ABC, he risks being jailed if he is prosecuted in Australia or other countries for revealing ASIO secrets.
Marcus is now hiding in an undisclosed location overseas, protecting himself from extremists.
Marcus risks being jailed if prosecuted for speaking to Four Corners.
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'We should copy the Charlie Hebdo attack'
Marcus said that in 2022 and 2023, he gave ASIO messages and contacts of BROTHERHOOD members who called for attacks on Bishop Emmanuel as punishment for sermons criticising the Prophet Muhammad.
The messages included IS propaganda urging knife attacks in Australia, as well as exhortations for a killing in the style of the 2015 massacre targeting France's Charlie Hebdo magazine, Marcus said.
"There were comments like 'we should copy the Charlie Hebdo attack to shut him up'," he said.
"'This is the best solution, this is how the mujahideen deal with those who attacked our Prophet' … 'this will cut his tongue off.'"
Bishop Emmanuel's sermons criticising the Prophet Muhammad angered members of the BROTHERHOOD group chat, Marcus said.
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A senior counterterrorism official — speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly — confirmed Australian authorities had intelligence from mid-2022 of threats against the bishop in the BROTHERHOOD group.
At its peak, the BROTHERHOOD group contained hundreds of members, including extremists on ASIO's radar and young people, according to Marcus.
Four Corners exposes more details of Marcus's mission to infiltrate an Australian pro-IS network. Watch tonight on ABC TV and
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He said ASIO "became less interested" in his warnings after the agency lowered Australia's official terrorism threat level from probable to possible in late 2022.
In lowering the threat level, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said the influence and capability of jihadist groups had diminished.
But he raised it again last year after eight suspected terrorist plots and attacks in just four months, which were driven by a range of ideologies including jihadism.
Christ The Good Shepherd Church at Wakeley, where Bishop Emmanuel was stabbed in April last year.
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ASIO declined to confirm whether the agency knew about the threats to the bishop but rejected suggestions that it ignored intelligence about any attack.
"Having carefully reviewed our records, ASIO stands by its decisions and conduct in the matters Four Corners proposes to canvass," a spokesperson said.
ASIO said claims put to the agency by Four Corners "contain multiple errors of fact, fabrications and misrepresentations", but would not say what those were.
The agency said it was unable to comment on individuals, sensitive capabilities, operational or court matters.
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Attacker had links to son of jailed foreign fighter
Following the Wakeley attack, the Joint Counter Terrorism Team raided more than a dozen homes, including those of some BROTHERHOOD members.
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The Four Corners investigation raises questions about whether authorities overlooked intelligence that the attacker was associating with at least two BROTHERHOOD members on the counterterrorism radar, who had close ties to Sydney's jihadist network.
One of those extremists, a teenager on a government deradicalisation program, was arrested with the Wakeley attacker over a public knife incident five months before the stabbing.
NSW Police arrested the boys after they chased rail workers at Liverpool train station in November 2023.
A court later heard the rail workers hid for their lives behind a locked security door while the Wakeley attacker's friend, who was 16 at the time, kicked and stabbed it with a hunting knife.
"You are very lucky that on this occasion… you are not sitting here facing any murder charge," a magistrate told the second teenager in Campbelltown Childrens Court in December.
The boys walked free after pleading guilty to offences, including intimidation and damaging property.
Four Corners has learned the teenager on the deradicalisation program was known to counterterrorism authorities for years as the son of a jailed foreign fighter.
And the boy became a counterterrorism target himself in recent years over fears he was radicalising fellow students at his Sydney school, according to sources close to the family.
He had a history of knife violence and was found in a NSW Youth Justice report last year to be a "potential risk of extreme violence", according to documents provided to the court.
The Wakeley attacker was arrested with another BROTHERHOOD member over a knife incident at Liverpool Station in November 2023.
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When they were arrested together in November 2023, the Wakeley attacker's friend was participating in the NSW Engagement and Support Program (ESP), a deradicalisation scheme run by the state's Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) in partnership with NSW Police.
The ESP is part of a network of federally coordinated deradicalisation programs, which share information with the AFP and ASIO.
Four Corners asked NSW Police detailed questions, including if its Counter-Terrorism Command had intelligence about the boys' arrests and relationship, and whether that intelligence was shared with the AFP and ASIO.
NSW Police declined to respond, saying the matters were before the courts or under investigation.
The DCJ also said it was unable to comment on questions, including whether the Wakeley attacker was offered support through the deradicalisation program.
Attacker associated with alleged recruiter
Following the stabbing of Bishop Emmanuel, authorities discovered that the attacker had associated with a second BROTHERHOOD member, notorious alleged IS recruiter Wassim Fayad, according to sources with close knowledge of the matter.
Police named Fayad as a leader in an IS cell, which groomed teenagers for attacks a decade ago, including the 2015 fatal shooting of NSW police accountant Curtis Cheng by a 15-year-old.
Fayad held meetings with young members who visited him in jail, while he served time for violent crimes, including leading a brutal whipping and being an accessory to an attempted murder at a men's sex club.
After his release from jail in 2020, the NSW Supreme Court placed Fayad on a two-year extended supervision order (ESO), and called for authorities to also supervise young people in close contact with him.
NSW Police fought to extend the ESO, but a judge in 2023 ruled the state did not prove he posed an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence.
Wassim Fayad (centre in green t-shirt) taking part in street-preaching activities in Sydney's CBD.
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After Fayad was released from the order, he was associating with the Wakeley attacker, but counterterrorism authorities only discovered the intelligence after the stabbing, sources told Four Corners.
Police searched Fayad's home just nine days later as part of sweeping raids on the alleged terrorist network, which was suspected to be connected to the Wakeley attacker, in an investigation codenamed Operation Mingary.
Investigators feared the group of teenagers was planning more attacks, after the arrest of the Wakeley attacker on a charge of terrorism.
The Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) — which includes ASIO, NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) — targeted more BROTHERHOOD members, like the radicalised teenager who was arrested months earlier with the Wakeley attacker.
Police charged four boys with planning a terrorist attack on targets including Jews.
Five other teenage members of the Mingary group have been charged with carrying out gay bashings, which were allegedly carried out on camera.
The Four Corners investigation has revealed that several of the teenagers in the Mingary group were followers of Sydney hate preacher Wisam Haddad.
Mr Haddad was also filmed with Fayad, a close associate, trying to convert new followers during street-preaching activities in the Sydney CBD in December 2023, in video obtained by the ABC.
Four Corners sent questions to Mr Fayad — including whether he was part of the Mingary terrorist network — but has not received a response.
Four Corners also provided questions to Mr Haddad, including whether he had radicalised or recruited any of the Mingary boys or the Wakeley attacker.
Mr Haddad denied any involvement in or affiliation with terrorism
"I refute and deny any and all inferences or implications contained within your message … I have received legal advice to not engage … [and] reserve my rights against you and the ABC," he wrote in a message to Four Corners.
The Wakeley attacker has been charged with offences including committing an act of terrorism and attempted murder.
Youth extremism expert Peta Lowe says authorities appeared to have overlooked crucial intelligence about his associations with known extremists, which pointed to "significant risk factors" prior to the Wakeley attack.
Youth extremism expert Peta Lowe.
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"It's very hard for me to believe that we haven't learned from our mistakes of the past in terms of the connectedness of people, especially young people," said Ms Lowe, the former director of countering violent extremism for NSW Youth Justice.
She said NSW Police should have considered the Wakeley attacker for a deradicalisation program and shared intelligence with counterterrorism authorities when he was arrested five months before stabbing the bishop.
'It broke my heart'
Marcus's relationship with ASIO ended in 2023 because of his involvement in two court cases while he was monitoring the BROTHERHOOD group, Four Corners understands.
He was charged in 2022 with multiple counts of assault and stalking, which were later withdrawn and dismissed.
Marcus also sought apprehended violence orders (AVO), telling a Sydney court that extremists threatened to harm him because they discovered his work with ASIO.
Marcus is in hiding overseas, protecting himself from possible retribution.
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Marcus contacted the ABC to reveal his warnings about the bishop after watching
He said he recognised the teenager from Wisam Haddad's prayer centre, as well as from street-preaching activities in which Fayad participated.
After years working undercover with young extremists, he was also familiar with the pain of families who lost their children to the lure of terrorism.
"I knew the reaction and the suffering that his family and their mums had," Marcus said, becoming emotional.
"That made me sad.
"I hoped they stop it.
"It broke my heart."
Bishop Emmanuel did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment.
Watch Four Corners: The Agent Inside, tonight from 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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