All of Strike Force Pearl’s alleged anti-semitism offenders to stay in custody except for dead bikie boss’ son

Each of the 12 people New South Wales Police have so far rounded up over the recent spate of anti-Semitic hate crimes have been remanded in custody, except for the son of a slain bikie boss, due to the risk they pose to the community.

The alleged offenders, mostly Sydney men with criminal histories, range in age from 19 to 58.

In most cases, their motivations are yet to be revealed but police have publicly said they are investigating whether Australia-based organised crime gangs or overseas actors were paying criminals-for-hire to carry out the attacks.

This month NSW police deputy commissioner David Hudson said authorities had not identified any ideology for 10 of those charged but text messages between two of the alleged offenders, ventilated in court, have revealed they expected to be paid for their alleged crimes.

NSW Police made a significant breakthrough when they arrested Guy Finnegan and his co-accused Craig Bantoft, who set fire to Bondi’s Curly Lewis brewery in October, and found text messages revealing they were allegedly committing the hate crimes at the behest of a mysterious puppet master with the alias of “James Bond”.

Finnegan, 31, has since been sentenced to an aggregate 18-month custodial sentence for a string of offences including destroying property by fire, common assault, fraud, theft, larceny and drug possession.

Bantoft, who was already serving an intensive correction order, will be sentenced at the Waverley Local Court in March.

He reportedly has prior convictions that include theft, destroying property, common assaults and choking.

Just days after the pair set fire to the Bondi brewery, the Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a kilometre away, was torched.

Wayne Ogden, 40, and 26-year-old Juon Majok Mal Amuoi have been arrested and charged over the Jewish-run deli attack.

It has been reported that Ogden, who was unlicensed, drove an allegedly stolen BMW to Bondi to commit the crime.

While detained on remand in Silverwater prison, he has allegedly “failed to comply with a digital evidence order” related to handing over a password for a device.

Police allege Amuoi had gone to the Campbell Parade deli days before the fire, dressed in black and armed with a sledgehammer “with the intention of causing damage to the property” before a security guard scared him off and called police.

Mr Amuoi will face court in Albury this week.

Another three men – aged 20,19 and 21 – have been charged after 10 vehicles and buildings were allegedly deliberately damaged in Woollahra in November 2024.

Adam Hawi, son of murdered former Comanchero boss Mick Hawi, was charged over his alleged role in the lead-up to one of the Woollahra incidents in which a Ute was torched, multiple cars damaged and popular Chiswick restaurant graffitied with anti-Israel messages.

Mr Hawi, the only Strike Force Pearl arrest who is not in custody, is allegedly refusing to tell police who was driving his car, which was used in the attacks.

The 21-year-old will face the Sutherland Local Court this week and the Waverley Local Court next month.

Mr Hawi’s two co-accused – Mohammed Farhat and Thomas Stojanovski – were also arrested and charged over the Woollahra crime spree.

In late November, Mr Farhat was arrested at Sydney International Airport where he was reportedly about to board a flight to Thailand.

The 20-year-old has been charged with 21 offences, including 14 counts of destroying or damaging property, three counts of entering a building with intent to commit an indictable offence and with behaving in an offensive manner.

He will return to the Downing Centre Local Court this week.

Mr Stojanovski, 19, will also return to court next week where is facing 14 counts of destroying or damaging property, along with trespassing offences and offensive behaviour charges.

In January, Adam Moule and Leon Emmanuel Sofilas allegedly plastered swastikas across the walls of a synagogue in Newtown, in Sydney’s inner west, and attempted to set it alight.

This week Magistrate Greg Grogin refused to grant the pair bail, saying their alleged offences were “abhorrent” and that they posed an unacceptable risk to the community.

The court was told both men have lengthy criminal histories including violence and breaches of bail and domestic violence orders.

The court heard Moule, 33, was an Indigenous man with “significant mental health issues” and who had been living in housing commission.

Mr Sofilas’ lawyer Steve Mav told the court, in arguing for him to be released on bail, that his client suffered from anxiety, PTSD, depression, public anxiety and epilepsy.

Mr Sofilas, 37, is facing charges of arson and property damage, as well as knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public, to which the court was told he intends to plead not guilty.

Their matters will return to court on April 3.

This month homeless man, Wendell Mumbulla, was charged with intimidation after allegedly hurling anti-Semitic abuse at a woman in Bondi.

The 21-year-old, who had been living in a Jewish-run crisis accommodation and is now in custody, has pleaded not guilty.

He will return to the Waverley Local Court this week.

The oldest person to be charged in NSW so far is Keith Melvyn Wass who allegedly, repeatedly, graffiti spray-painted a Nazi swastika on Jo Haylen’s Marrickville office.

The 58-year-old is facing charges including destroying or damaging property, intentionally marking premises without consent and knowingly displaying Nazi symbol without excuse.

He will return to the Newtown Local Court this week.

This week two men, aged 51 and 44, were charged after displaying a flag with a Nazi symbol at Darlinghurst.

They were refused bail to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.

The only woman to be charged so far under Strike Force Pearl is Tammie Farrugia.

The 34-year-old was arrested at her Liverpool home on January 20 and charged over her alleged involvement in the malicious damage of vehicles and buildings in Woollahra in December.

She was charged with participating in a criminal group, contributing to criminal activity, accessory before the fact to destroy or damage property and be carried in conveyance taken without consent of the owner.

Those matters will return to the Sydney Downing Centre on April 3.

Before then, Ms Farrugia will return to the Liverpool Local Court later this month on unrelated drug charges.

Her partner Scott Marshall is also in custody facing unrelated weapons and drug offences, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

He is due back in the Liverpool local court next month.

Ms Farrugia and Mr Marshall are reported to be on the “periphery” of the police investigation into an explosive-laced caravan, intended for Jewish targets in Sydney, that was discovered by the side of the road on January 19.

The couple have not been charged in relation to the abandoned caravan, which was filled with mining explosives, a note with the addresses of a Sydney synagogue and other Jewish buildings, and a note that read “f**k the Jews”.

In December the Australian Federal Police established Special Operation Avalite to target high-harm antisemitism, which has so far made a handful of arrests.

On Thursday the AFP charged a Victorian man with allegedly calling a political organisation and making offensive antisemitic comments.

The AFP will allege the 64-year-old man called the Canberra office of a political organisation on two occasions and making antisemitic and abusive statements both times.

In a separate matter, the AFP has charged a 44-year-old Blacktown man after he allegedly posted death threats to a Jewish association’s social media page.

He will appear before the Downing Centre Local Court later this month.

And a Victorian man has been charged with allegedly making death threats and anti-Semitic comments to Federal and State MPs last month via email and social media.

The 33-year-old has been charged with four counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence and one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill.

He is due back in Melbourne Magistrates Court in April.