Stabbed Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel forgives attacker: ‘you are my son, I love you’
- Emmanuel, who was slashed in the head and chest during the attack at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, said he was recovering quickly
- A teenage suspect has been arrested for the assault that also sparked a riot by congregants outside the church
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Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was slashed in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect on Monday, sparking a riot by followers of the Assyrian Christian church in western Sydney.
“I am doing fine, recovering very quickly,” said the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.
The area is a hub for Sydney’s small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.
Emmanuel has an online following of almost 200,000, galvanising many with his criticism of Covid-19 vaccines and lockdowns as well as Islam.
Sydney church stabbing was religiously motivated terrorism: police
“There is no need to be worried or concerned,” the bishop said in a YouTube video released on Tuesday, with audio of his voice accompanied by a photo of him in vestments.
“I forgive whoever has done this act and I say to him: You are my son, I love you and I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well.”
The teenage suspect was taken to a Sydney hospital after the attack.
Senior police said midweek his treatment was expected to last for several days.
The bishop called for calm after the stabbing sparked angry scenes outside the church.
Hundreds of congregants and members of the community rushed to the site on the night of the attack.
02:06
‘You are my son’: stabbed Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel forgives teenage attacker
Some hurled rocks and other projectiles that allegedly wounded police and damaged 50 police cars.
“I want you to always be calm,” the bishop said.
“We need to be always law-abiding citizens as well. We need to cooperate with the police directives whether it be at a state level or a federal level,” he said.
“We should never forget that we are very blessed to be Aussies, but above all we are Christians and we need to act like it.”
A western Sydney doctor who is in contact with the teenager’s family said they were in “shock” and “in disbelief about the horrible action their son has done”.
Sydney police arrest man who stabbed bishop in church, injured several people
Jamal Rifi said the family had also been shocked at how quickly the event had been labelled a “terrorist” act, without speaking to the boy or his family first.
The boy’s mother told Rifi her son had anger and mental health issues.
Rifi said Australia was a diverse community and despite the differences in culture and faith, he had been reassured that so many had called for calm and denounced any retaliation attempts.
“Reciprocal respect is the core that preserves social cohesion,” he said.
New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb said on Thursday the teenager remained in hospital and authorities were yet to question him.
Police charged a 19-year-old man on Wednesday in connection with the violence outside the church and have warned more will be arrested in the coming days.
Meanwhile, a Sydney shopping centre where six people died in a stabbing attack held a sombre reopening on Thursday, with members of a sorrowful community filing past rows of still-closed stores to pay their respects.
Shops will reopen properly on Friday, nearly a week after a 40-year-old man rampaged through the Westfield mall in Bondi Junction.
But Thursday’s “slow reopening” was billed as a chance for shocked Sydneysiders to reflect.
It’s an opportunity to express solidarity and condolences and to “turn the page on what’s been a very difficult period” for the city, said NSW Premier Chris Minns.
It was, he said, a “first step in healing”.
03:14
Authorities rule out terrorism in deadly Sydney knife attack
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday he will consider granting citizenship to a Pakistani security guard wounded in the attack.
Muhammad Taha reportedly said he believed he “deserved recognition and consideration for citizenship” after being stabbed.
In a bedside interview with The Australian newspaper, Taha said he was attacked just after fellow Pakistani security guard Faraz Tahir, one of the six people killed at the shopping complex.
Taha has a graduate visa due to expire in less than a month, the paper said.
The guard reportedly noted that Frenchman Damien Guerot, since dubbed “bollard man”, had been offered permanent residency after video shared on social media showed him using a bollard to fend off the attacker, Joel Cauchi.
Asked in a radio interview if the Australian government would entertain Taha’s citizenship request, Albanese said: “Yes, we certainly will.”
He described the killing of Faraz Tahir as a “tragedy”.
Young Chinese student among 5 women killed in Sydney mall knife attack
“This other person, Muhammad Taha, he confronted this guy, the perpetrator, Joel Cauchi, on Saturday. And it just shows extraordinary courage,” the prime minister said.
Both men put themselves in danger to protect Australians they did not know, Albanese said.
“That’s the sort of courage that we want to say thank you to, frankly.”
Albanese said Guerot would receive permanent residency, which he had been seeking, on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday hailed Guerot and his fellow Frenchman Silas Despreaux for trying to stop the mall attacker.
