The man behind the Botany bomb threat has finally been arrested and charged with a number of offences. He faced court today and has been refused bail. Michael West reports.
NSW have arrested and charged a 44-year-old Sydney man, David Wise, for planting a bomb on the car of an Australian flying a Palestinian flag on his ute.
It has taken police 8 weeks to make the arrest. The matter was not handed to terror police but rather a local constable was given charge of the investigation. Wise, who lives near the victim Theo (his name withheld for safety reasons), has been refused bail and appeared via video link at the Downing Centre Local Court today.
He is charged with the following offences:
– Send article to cause alarm;
– Stalk/intimidate intend to fear physical harm (two counts)
– Use carriage service to menace/harass/offend; and
– Enter enclosed land.
The bomb was derided in mainstream media at the time, and the incident downplayed, as a “fake bomb”. The ABC is headlining its coverage of the incident today with “fake bomb” despite the story admitting the Jerry can contained petrol.
It carried a note saying: “Enough! Take down flag! One chance!!!!”
It took the bomb disposal squad three hours and a robot to secure the device on January 5. Theo has expressed dismay with the length and lack of prompt response to the threat, telling MWM his family has lived in fear, and has been subject to further threats since the initial threat.
He told MWM today: “When Muslims demand peace and freedom, they are publicly branded as terrorists, and when people like me show solidarity to those being murdered at unprecedented rates, we are called antisemites and criticised for being ‘divisive’.
“But today we have found out what happens when a Zionist makes a bomb: it’s called a ‘suspicious device’ or outright denied as a real threat, and they are allowed to go about their lives for two months and two days before the police arrest them, even though the police were told to investigate the person on the day of the bomb”.
According to the police statement:
Around 2pm on Friday 5 January 2024, police were called to Daphne Street, Botany, after a resident found a suspicious item placed on his car.
Officers from the Rescue and Bomb Squad attended and deemed the item safe.
Detectives from South Sydney Police Area Command established a crime scene.
On 16 February 2024, the resident received an alleged threatening phone call. He alerted police and an investigation commenced.
Following extensive inquiries, police executed a search warrant at a home in Botany this morning (Thursday, 7 March 2024).
A number of items were seized.
Frustrated with the lack of action by the police, Theo went on social media last month, posting on X:
1/ The day after Xmas, a photo of our house along with my phone number and our address was posted to a private Facebook group called “Jews of Sydney”.
The comments under the post were riddled with racist hate speech and dog whistles. All of it under people’s own names.
2/ The comment thread had already been partially sanitised before a whistleblower screenshotted it and got in touch with us two days after the bomb. The whistleblower had given the information to police before us, they had not payed it any attention.
3/ We sent the material to the police. They questioned the whistleblower about their motives repeatedly and asked them some pretty weird questions, then the entire fact and all material relating to the doxxing apparently got lost or something.
4/ In the course of investigating the bomb placement and threat, my partner and I collated the information regarding the doxxing, including explanations of the hate speech and possible calls for violence confirmed by an academic specialising in the Middle East.
5/ Upon discovering that the police appeared unaware of the doxxing (which they had been provided evidence of twice previously) we again supplied them with this nine page long dossier (longer I believe than the document which defunded UNRWA THE UN AID GROUP HELPING THE STARVING PEOPLE OF GAZA).
That was about 2.5 weeks ago.
6/ Presumably as a result of today’s piece by Farah Abdurahman published by Michael West Media, we received an update on the investigation this evening. My impression of the update was that in the last 2.5 weeks, the police have not made any further progress.
7/ I and others believe that investigating the doxxing we experienced is likely going to be pivotal in finding the man who planned and constructed a bomb to then place it along with a political demand and threat of further violence.
8/ Farah’s piece (attached) includes some portions of the dossier we gave to police about being doxxed. The comments are right there as the authors wrote them, along with their names which they had no qualms showing on a group of about 6,000 people.
9/ Now, @AlboMP: are the people whose vile, ahistorical and racist garbage they proudly said to thousands may now be seen by the public as the victims of this tale? Are they who you protect?
Because it’s clear you aren’t protecting me, and it’s clear you aren’t protecting us.
Theo flew a Palestinian flag. First he was doxed, then came the bomb!
Editor’s Note: the original version of this story noted the name of the charged man as Weiss. It is David Wise, according to court records. Apologies for the error, the name was taken over the phone.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.