A Sydney teenager's intense feelings for his young wife meant he would never have contemplated or intended carrying out a terrorist attack knowing it would separate them, a jury has been told.
The "inevitable consequence" of such a plan would have been the separation of Sameh Bayda and his wife Alo-Bridget Namoa through his death or incarceration, his barrister Alissa Moen said on Tuesday.
"My submission is that the whole of the evidence is overwhelming about the intensity of the relationship between Mr Bayda and Ms Namoa."
She noted his attachment to Namoa, submitting "the prospect of doing something to separate him from her is not an inference you will draw when you look at all the evidence".
Ms Moen was making final submissions at the NSW Supreme Court trial of the couple, both now 21, who have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to do an act in preparation for a terrorist act.
The Crown alleges their plot ran between December 8, 2015 and January 25, 2016, the day of Bayda's arrest, and involved detonating an improvised device, an incendiary device or using a bladed weapon.
Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson QC says the "vast"amount of extremist material, including graphic videos, images and communications to each other, found on their phones reflected their religious ideology of advancing Islam by violence.
Ms Moen said the Crown contended that the material gave a "compelling picture of them being absolutely committed to extremist groups", being more than sympathisers and not just fantasising.
But when the jurors looked at the evidence showing the intensity of their relationship,, the Crown case "cannot be stacked up".
She referred to their immaturity, both only being 18 at the time of the alleged plot, and evidence of them "parroting" some of the vast amount of propaganda they had read or heard.
Another question for the jury involved some role-playing or play-acting in the relationship.
Mr Robinson said Bayda gave Namoa a hunting knife and black Shahada flag to look after as part of their plot.
"The reason she held it was so it would be available if and when they decided on a suitable target to take on," he said.
Police found the sheathed knife on top of the flag in Namoa's handbag when she was staying at a friend's place.
The pair had decided to do what they could to prepare for a terrorist attack on New Year's Eve, the prosecutor said.
"Bayda hoped he would live, Namoa feared he would die," Mr Robinson said, citing communications between them.
"Bayda was out in the city dressed as Jihadi, looking for a target."
For whatever reason, it did not occur and Bayda later looked at instructive documents relating to stabbings.
The trial continues before Justice Des Fagan.
Australian Associated Press
