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Man is a terror-risk if released: lawyer

Margaret ScheikowskiAAP
Blake Pender was jailed after admitting a terror-related offence and threatening a magistrate.
Camera IconBlake Pender was jailed after admitting a terror-related offence and threatening a magistrate. Credit: AAP

The risks posed by a Sydney man who threatened to kill police, military staff and a magistrate can be managed in the community, a judge has been told.

Blake Nicholas Pender, then 28, was jailed for four years and three months in December 2019 after admitting terror-related knife possession and threatening a magistrate.

Pender, who suffers from schizophrenia, was arrested in June 2017 after approaching a group of police officers in Surry Hills, muttering in a foreign language and reaching for a knife hidden up his right sleeve.

The home affairs minister has applied to the NSW Supreme Court for a three-year continuing detention order to keep Pender behind bars despite his having served his sentence.

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At a resumed hearing on Tuesday, his barrister Matthew Johnston SC urged Justice Michael Walton to dismiss the application.

Pender didn't pose an unacceptable risk of further offending if released due to the combination of an extensive Federal Court control order and a string of other proposed community measures, he said.

Those measures involved the development of a comprehensive plan which included Uniting Care accommodation, mental health care and supervision, and police reporting.

When Pender was arrested and handcuffed in 2017, he laughed and told the officers he'd have killed them all if he was still armed.

"The proudest thing a man can do is behead a cop," he said.

Refused bail in court later that day, he promised to kill military and police personnel before telling magistrate Joanne Keogh he'd kill her next.

In a court appearance via video link later that day, Pender repeatedly declared "God is great" in Arabic and wished Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi a long life.

Pender has converted to and renounced Islam twice, sports a Christian cross tattoo under his right eye and said he converted to Judaism in April.

Given he has a major mental illness and personality disorder, all medical experts agreed his abstinence from alcohol and illicit drugs was key to managing his risk.

Mr Johnston said any deterioration in Pender's mental health or his use of alcohol or drugs would be picked up by all the interventions put in place before any risk elevated.

The agencies, which included police, mental health workers and accommodation staff, would identify any deterioration rapidly and appropriate action could be taken.

But Perry Herzfeld SC, for the applicant, referred to the lack of enforcement available under the proposed community regime.

He referred to the "substantial risk" of Pender disengaging with those services.

"Your Honour will be satisfied of a real risk that Mr Pender will form the requisite intention to commit a serious terrorism offence," he said.

The proposed measures would only be effective if Pender complied with them.

He previously told the court that as recently as June Pender "made a threat to kill someone" while being treated with methadone.

But a forensic psychiatrist said he had since improved in a mental health facility, with such episodes appearing "less frequently".

Dr Kerri Eagle agreed that his risk could be managed under the suite of controls proposed in conjunction with another CTO, and said she could not see "further benefit of him staying in custody".

Justice Walton will hand down his decision on an unspecified date.

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