A “transgender” far-left extremist has avoided jail for setting off a bomb inside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and possessing dozens more homemade explosives.
Biological male Malith Shamera Fernando, 25, was referred to as a female by Magistrate Donna Bakos as she handed him a Community Corrections Order (CCO) in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday and ordered him to pay $4,600 in compensation for the damage caused by the bomb.
Fernando, a mentally ill pro-Palestine activist and drug addict, set off the explosive in a male toilet block during the Land Forces Expo on September 12 last year after scoping out the private event a day earlier by using his engineering qualifications to pass security and acquire a ticket.
He was then raided by police who found 28 more homemade incendiary devices in his bedroom and bathroom, along with drugs and “protest ideology”, and he pleaded guilty to criminal damage, two charges of possessing items with a purpose to use them to destroy or damage property, trafficking cannabis, and possessing ketamine, 1,4-Butanediol, and the opioid oxycontin.
On Wednesday the police prosecutor, who asked for a custodial sentence due to the severity of the bomb attack, read an additional victim impact statement from a traumatised ADF veteran who was in the toilets when Fernando set off the explosive.
The man said he “felt instant and intense fear that I was about to die a horrible death”, has developed a fear of large events and crowded areas, causing him to cancel a family holiday, and feels anxiety whenever he sees protesters.
But despite calling the bombing “very serious”, saying it was only by “good fortune” that the explosive self-extinguished and did not cause more damage or physical injuries, noting that the attack was planned and premeditated, and finding Fernando trafficked drugs for a year, Ms Bakos decided against sending him to jail.
She read from psychological reports stating that Fernando’s mental health issues were “compounded” by difficulties with “sexuality, gender identity and racism”, but that he was making “lifechanging” progress since being diagnosed with ADHD after the bombing and put on medication.
Ms Bakos also took into account character references, including one by the owner of Community Car Care, an organisation that teaches homosexuals and aboriginals how to drive.
She told the court that Fernando’s “mental health diagnoses and gender status” meant that imprisonment would be more onerous for him than for a normal person, and said society would be safer if he was rehabilitated with therapy and drug programs instead of jail.
“I accept that a term of imprisonment would have a significant adverse effect on your mental health,” she told Fernando, who wore a heavy-duty Covid-style face mask throughout the hearing and did not speak.
Ms Bakos imposed a 15-month CCO requiring treatment and rehabilitation for drug addiction, mental health assessment and treatment, and offender behaviour programs, all as directed by corrective services.
She also gave Fernando four months to pay the $4,600 in compensation, despite his lawyer only asking for two, and ordered the forfeiture of the explosives and drugs seized by police.
Far-left protesters carried out violent demonstrations throughout the Expo, and in June serial pro-Palestine activist and former Victorian Socialists candidate Jasmine Duff was spared a conviction for assaulting two attendees after prosecutors dropped charges and recommended her for a diversion.
Magistrate Stephen Ballek accepted the application and ordered Duff to make a $250 donation to the Palestine relief and write letters of apology to her victims, the Herald Sun reported.
“It is ironic in a way that she is making a donation to something she believes in as part of a penalty,” Mr Ballek said.
Header image: Left, right, Malith Shamera Fernando (LinkedIn, Instagram).
