A “transgender” far-left extremist set off a bomb inside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and was caught with dozens more homemade explosives.
Malith Shamera Fernando, 25, a biological male engineer who claims to be female, set off a homemade incendiary device in a toilet cubicle during the Land Forces Expo on September 12 last year amid violent pro-Palestine protests outside the event.
The bomb caused a fire in the male toilets, and was set off while two other Expo attendees were inside other cubicles, leaving one man traumatised and causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, The Age reported.
Police then found 28 more homemade incendiary devices in Fernando’s bedroom and bathroom, along with drugs and “protest ideology”.
Mr Fernando pleaded guilty to criminal damage, possessing items with a purpose to use them to destroy or damage property, trafficking cannabis, and possessing ketamine and 1,4-Butanediol, and faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
The court heard Fernando’s engineering qualifications enabled him to buy a ticket to the Expo, and that he had visited the defence exhibition the day before the attack to scope out the building.
The prosecution argued Fernando should be jailed for the bombing, but Fernando’s lawyer, who described his client as a woman, said the bomber was remorseful and a productive community member.
He said Fernando suffered “heart-wrenching” mental illness, had undergone hardship in his life, and spent his non-working hours helping people learn to drive.
“Ms (sic) Fernando made a terrible error in judgment and she (sic) regrets it. She’s (sic) taken responsibility for it,” he told the court.
Fernando will be sentenced by Magistrate Donna Bakos on December 3.
In June another far-left Land Forces protester, serial pro-Palestine activist and former Victorian Socialists candidate Jasmine Duff, was spared a conviction for assaulting two Expo attendees after prosecutors dropped charges and recommended her for a diversion, the Herald Sun reported.
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.
“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).
