OK, so a gay activist tries to suicide bomb a Christian building in Canberra - and the media is almost silent and portrays it as a mental health issue. I am surprised this incident has not received more attention. I suspect it would have received more media attention should a religious suicide bomber hit a building associated with gay people.
The man accused of driving a burning van laden with gas bottles into the Australian Christian Lobby headquarters was a gay activist who disliked the group because of its “position on sexuality” and had searched online how to make plastic explosives and a pressure-cooker bomb.
Court documents tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday reveal Jaden Duong had also run searches about gay marriage in other countries and, a month before the alleged attack at 10.45pm on December 21 last year, had searched for the “Australian Christian Lobby”.
After the blast at the group’s Canberra headquarters in Deakin, which gutted the ground floor and caused $100,000 of damage, police said the attack was not “politically, religiously or ideologically motivated” and referred to it as a “car fire”.
ACL head Lyle Shelton disputed the police claims.
Police allege 36-year-old Mr Duong had stepped up internet searching from July last year for terms including “how to make ammonium nitrate”, “pressure- cooker bomb”, “C4”, “how to buy a gun in Australia”, “gas leak explosion” and “how much gas to cause explosion”.
The US military uses C4, a plastic explosive, and ammonium nitrate has been used as an ingredient in terrorist bombs.
Jaden Duong leaves ACT Magistrates Court yesterday after being granted bail, accompanied by two women. Picture: Ray Strange
Mr Duong also allegedly researched gay marriage in Israel and Germany and searched for “countries with gay marriage”.
Mr Duong, who was badly burned in the blast, walked 4km to Canberra Hospital. He was later transferred for treatment in Sydney due to the severity of his injuries.
His hospital records allegedly showed Mr Duong had attempted suicide previously, had chosen to target the ACL spontaneously and had “quit his job to plan this suicide attempt”.
“He is ‘not a huge fan’ of the ACL, or religion in general, due to their beliefs and position on sexuality,” the records from Sydney’s Concord Hospital state.
At Canberra Hospital, records allegedly show he was trying to commit suicide when “he drove a van up to a church, opened four cylinders of gas and lit a lighter”.
The $40,000 van was near new and had been rented from Hertz at Canberra Airport on December 19. The gas cylinders had been bought from several service stations using Mr Duong’s credit card, police records said.
According to documents tendered in court, soon after the explosion, police asked Mr Duong why he had picked the location.
The blown-up van. Picture: Kym Smith
“Because I dislike the Australian Christian Lobby,” he allegedly replied. Asked why, he allegedly said: “Because religions are failed.”
The documents said he was asked what he aimed to achieve and allegedly replied that he wanted to “blow myself up”.
Police asked if he had “any thoughts about the property”. “Well, if that blew up — yay — but actually I was just trying to blow myself up,” he allegedly replied.
Mr Duong allegedly apologised for the mess and, when asked about the hired van, said: “Well to be perfectly honest, I thought I would blow up and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
In January, police were notified Mr Duong would not participate in an interview or any conversation with police.
Yesterday Mr Duong appeared in court with a bandaged right hand and burn scars on his neck and face.
He was committed to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court and was formally charged with one count of arson and one count of property damage.
His lawyer Peter Woodhouse said he would plead not guilty on the basis of mental impairment.
“The facts in this matter are not in dispute. It’s an issue of mental impairment,” Mr Woodhouse told the court.
Mr Duong was bailed to appear at a directions hearing next Thursday.
He left court flanked by Mr Woodhouse and two women and did not comment. The Australian understands he previously had volunteered on the political campaign of a gay activist politician and for an LGBTI organisation in San Francisco.
The former IT manager’s LinkedIn profile, which was taken offline earlier this year, said he had volunteered on California State Assembly member and gay activist David Chiu’s 2014 campaign for office and on Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s 2014 campaign.
The damaged exterior of the Canberra office of the Australian Christian Lobby. Picture: Kym Smith
A person describing himself online as Jaden Duong was also a contestant in the Mr GAPA 2014 pageant hosted by the Gay Asia Pacific Alliance Foundation in San Francisco.
Mr Duong’s LinkedIn profile says he volunteered for political organisation San Francisco Moderates and San Francisco-based social entrepreneurship organisation StartOut, which offers “education, networking, mentorship and access to capital in order to foster entrepreneurs and great business leaders in the LGBTQ community”. The Australian can also reveal that a Jaden Duong joined the ACL’s email list on July 7 last year before unsubscribing on August 23.
Online, Mr Duong said he had worked in IT for law firms including Freehills, Mallesons and Sparke Helmore in Sydney and Canberra, as well as at the University of Technology Sydney.
He also claimed he previously worked at the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink and the Department of Health and Aged Care.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin told a Senate estimates hearing earlier this year that authorities believed Mr Duong knew the building he drove into in December was the ACL office, but that he was not driven by an ideology based on anything the Christian lobby had said or done.
Mr Colvin said he thought Mr Duong’s main motivation had been to commit suicide and not to target the Christian group.
In May, Mr Shelton told The Australian he was frustrated that police had been so quick to rule out a political motive for Mr Duong’s actions.
“I am also concerned that the police continue to refer to the incident which blew out thick glass windows on the ground floor and first floor of our office as a ‘car fire’,” he said.
Outside court yesterday, Mr Shelton said there was little he could say while the case was before the courts.
“I look forward to the legal process taking its course,” he said. If you need help, call Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14.
