Wakeley church stabbings (Sydney) — declared terrorist act

On the evening of 15 April 2024, a 16-year-old male attacked Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel with a knife at Christ the Good Shepherd Church, an Assyrian church in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley. The assault happened during a service that was being livestreamed, so it was captured on video. The bishop, 53, suffered multiple stab wounds to the head and upper body and later lost vision in one eye. A priest in his 30s and another man were injured while helping to restrain the assailant, who was held by parishioners until police arrived.

New South Wales Police declared the stabbing a terrorist act, with Police Commissioner Karen Webb describing it as religiously motivated. The teenager was charged with committing a terrorist act and, subsequently, with offences including injuring with intent to murder. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said the agency was aware the suspect had claimed the bishop insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The boy's defence raised a history of behaviour consistent with mental illness, a point that has featured in the case.

The attack triggered serious unrest. A large crowd gathered outside the church, and the disorder that followed left dozens of police officers injured and numerous police vehicles damaged. NSW Premier Chris Minns appealed for calm. Separately, Australia's eSafety Commissioner ordered the platform X to remove footage of the stabbing; the Federal Court later declined to extend a global takedown order, with the judge finding such a worldwide requirement unreasonable.

This was a domestic, religiously motivated terrorist attack carried out by a teenage offender, formally declared a terrorist act by NSW Police. It is not a state-directed or Russia-linked hybrid-warfare operation, and should not be framed as one. The motive, as assessed by authorities, related to the attacker's belief that the bishop had insulted Islam. Defence claims of mental illness remain a live issue and have not been adjudicated. The broader public-order violence and the social-media takedown dispute were significant secondary consequences rather than part of any coordinated campaign.