A court has heard that a conspiracy between two schoolboys to use explosives and guns to ‘kill as many people as possible’ was nothing more than ‘idle chatter’ between two ‘moody youths’.
The pair, aged 16 and 19, appeared before Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Greg Mead, one of the defence lawyers said his client was only acting out to gain attention.
A pair of teenage school boys faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on charges of ‘conspiracy to commit murder’ over alleged conversations about orchestrating a school massacre
Mr Mead said that much of the evidence against the youths was circumstantial and there was no evidence they had possession of or access to guns.
He cited Facebook conversations between the boys did included comments about ‘shooting up a school’ and vague references to a ‘plan’.
‘It’s more like two moody teenagers perhaps expressing their dissatisfaction with their lives and with the world,’ Mr Mead said.
‘It’s no more than contemplation, an overly dramatic way of expressing their apparent depressed state of mind.’
The prosecutor, Jim Pearce, argued that the charges the boys faced were directly related to that exact type of conversation.
He said as soon as the boys conducted the conversation the crime of conspiracy to murder had been committed at ‘the minute you’ve got the meeting of minds’.
He said it was alleged the youths had experimented with crude explosives, including Molotov cocktails and napalm-style incendiary devices, and that the pair had three or four conversations about shooting up a school.
The prosecution said that as soon as the boys conducted the conversation the crime of conspiracy to murder had been committed at ‘the minute you’ve got the meeting of minds’
It’s also alleged by the prosecution that the pair had become obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre and intended on killing ‘as many’ people as possible.
Mr Pearce said part of the plan to attack the school was alleged to have involved setting off explosive devices at entry and exit points so that the students were effectively trapped inside.
‘Then, once armed with weapons, they’d be able to shoot people,’ he said.
Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard will rule on the no-case submissions next month.
She will also decide on a prosecution application to have the younger boy dealt with in the Supreme Court.
The lawyer for the older teen had also planned to present no-case submissions but abandoned his application on Wednesday.
It’s also alleged by the prosecution that the pair had become obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre (pictured) and intended on killing ‘as many’ people as possible
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