Liam Alexander Hall has been revealed as the man accused of throwing a bomb into a crowd during the Boorloo/Perth Invasion Day rally last month.
On January 26, about 2,500 people were gathered in Forrest Place when a device was allegedly thrown from a balcony towards the main stage, where Elders were speaking.
Police allege the object — which was said to be “about the size of a medium coffee cup” — was a home-made “fragment bomb” filled with flammable liquid, screws and ball bearings.
A short time later, a 32-year-old man was arrested, and he was initially charged with making an explosive under suspicious circumstances and endangering the life, health and safety of others, the West Australian reported.
However, a week later, his charge was upgraded after the incident was declared a terrorist act, making him the first person to be charged with an alleged terrorism offence in Western Australia.
At the time, his identity was suppressed after his defence lawyer raised concerns about his safety in prison, ABC News reports.
Per the publication, the man was not present for his second hearing, with his lawyer Simon Freitag SC citing a doctor’s report which found he was not fit to front court.
“The accused man is in a vulnerable mental health condition, he can’t even appear today in the court, and we’ve been asked by his treating psychiatrist to adjourn the matter for six weeks,” Freitag said.
However, Magistrate Lynnette Dias lifted the suppression order, stating that it was not enough to “justify displacing the usual practice of naming accused persons”.
“Given the serious nature of these charges and fundamental principles relating to open justice, I do not consider that issues relating to the accused’s interests and his personal circumstances are such as to justify displacing the usual practice of naming accused persons,” Dias said, per ABC News.
“It’s not in the interests of justice to make a suppression order.”
When Hall’s charges were upgraded, Premier Roger Cook said it “alleges the attack on Aboriginal people and other peaceful protesters was motivated by hateful, racist ideology” and that it could’ve turned the rally into a “mass casualty event”.
“The people in the crowd that day were peacefully protesting, as is their right as Australians,” Cook said at the time.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman told PEDESTRIAN.TV that Aboriginal community members are “shocked, horrified, scared and very concerned”.
Liam Alexandar Hall has not entered pleas and will front court on March 31.
Image source: Facebook / Spirit Walker & 9News.
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