Australian judge orders neo-Nazi be kept in prison due to posing ‘unacceptable’ terrorism risk

Australian Associated Press

August 26, 2021: A guns-obsessed neo-Nazi who talked about carrying out a mass shooting will be kept behind bars when his weapons sentence expires.

Radicalised white supremacist Michael Holt “poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence if not either detained or supervised”, Justice Natalie Adams said in the supreme court on Thursday.

She ordered the 31-year-old be subject to a 28-day interim detention order from 9 September, when his sentence for a string of NSW firearm offences expires.

His term for commonwealth child pornography offences expires one year later, while he is yet to be sentenced for producing child abuse material found in his cell in March.

In making the interim order, Adams considered voluminous material on his background, crimes and an assessment of the risks he poses.

“Mr Holt remains on the pathway toward an act of violent extremism, politically motivated violence or terrorism,” the assessment concluded.

Holt, whose tattoos include an Iron Cross containing a swastika, “SS runes” and a death’s head, was found to have supported violent extremism, politically motivated violence or terrorism while in custody and in the community.

The judge who jailed him for the weapons offences referred to texts which included “I urge to kill so bad all the time because, well, I can’t get laid, I hate myself.”

He also wrote “my hate increases every day, my rage exponentially so … I always fantasise about mass homicide when I’m in crowds and crowded places … I dream of it all the time”.

The judge deemed him to be obsessed with guns, sex and death and to be “extremely dangerous”.

While in jail, Holt continued to identify with the Christian Separatist Church which advocates that “the white race is superior to other races” and members hold “open hatred towards Judaism”.

According to the assessment, he acknowledged making online posts admiring Adolf Hitler and was seen to perform the Hitler salute when entering a jail group program assessment.

Items found in a 2020 search of his cell included song lyrics supporting far-right extremism and violence, and drawings of himself dressed in military type attire holding and pointing a weapon.

The lyrics included “An Elite with supreme dedication/To the complete eradication Of the mongrel scum in our nation”.

But the judge said most of the material was far more offensive “particularly the vile comments directed at people of the Jewish faith, people of African heritage and homosexuals”.

She also noted he has expressed support for Elliot Rodger, who committed a mass murder in California in 2014.

“Mr Rodger has become a ‘hero’ to men identifying as ‘incels’ (the involuntarily celibate).

“There has also been an increasing number of murders committed overseas by men identifying as such.

“Although the defendant has qualified his support for Mr Rodger by stating that he himself is not ‘totally misogynistic and arrogant’, the material provided to me would suggest otherwise.

“Incels are men who believe that they are entitled to have sexual intercourse with women and that they are somehow being deprived of this by women.

“Although this application is not brought on the basis that he is an incel, it is another troubling aspect of his profile.”

Adams ordered that Holt be examined by a psychiatrist and psychologist, before she considers the state of NSW’s final application for him to be subject to a continuing detention order or an extended supervision order.

Disclaimer: This article was originally published by the Australian Associated Press.