sentence — acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act or acts offence contrary to s 101.6(1) of Commonwealth Criminal Code — objective seriousness — actions were directed to putting into practice, with meticulous precision and attention to detail, the exhortations to go out and inflict terror and harm upon community — this kind of offending will always incorporate some degree of planning — sourcing extremist propaganda which provided instructions as how terrorist attack could be carried out using such weapons — concealing those weapons, ensuring clothing available for disguise, and taking steps to avoid detection — offending was simplistic, generally unsophisticated — none of that means offending not serious, had real capacity to inflict significant and immediate harm — offending mid-range of objective seriousness — contrition — s 16A(2)(f) — no evidence to suggest offender is contrite — finding consistent with offender’s protestations of innocence — fact that offender displays no contrition for offending is not an aggravating factor — simply means offender does not gain mitigatory benefit — specific deterrence — s 16A(2)(j) — bearing in mind offender’s ideology strong need for sentence to reflect considerations of specific deterrence — age — s 16A(2)(m) — offender’s age of particular significance — offender was 16 years and 5 months old at time of offence and 18 years old at time of sentencing — must not and do not view offender’s presentation in witness box as reflecting offender’s level of maturity at time of offending — unable to accept submission that offender was naive 16 year old whose immaturity was contributing factor to offending — offender deliberately sourced and posted extremist material which advocated violence — followed instructions to the letter, purchased weapons, carried camouflage gear, took steps to not be traced — conduct of that nature is the antithesis of naivety — offending involved considerable degree of forethought, intelligence and guile — deep and unstinting motivation to act upon and put into effect, the irrational, immoral and heinous advice propounded in extremist propaganda issued by Islamic State — rehabilitation — s 16A(2)(n) — although offender’s prospects of rehabilitation remain a relevant consideration on sentence, assume less significance than might be the case because of nature of offending — successful rehabilitation of offender found guilty of offence such as this is necessarily dependent upon offender renouncing extremist views — if sentencing court satisfied offender renounced extremist views, prospects of rehabilitation will be greater and constitute matter for court to make appropriate allowance — if court not satisfied, offender’s prospects of rehabilitation will be less optimistic — offender had previously moderated views, then reverted back to extremist stance — putting it at its highest, suggest that tentative steps have been taken by offender to move away from previously held extremist ideology — express conclusion with considerable caution — sentence imposed 16 years’ imprisonment with 12 year non-parole period — sentencing judge satisfied special circumstances within meaning of s 19(4)(c) of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) exist — pursuant to s 19(1), ordered that sentence imposed upon offender be served as a juvenile offender up to offender attaining age of 21 years — sentencing judge warned offender that application may be made for continuing detention order requiring offender to be detained after completion of sentence
