Minto terror accused apologises to victim in court

A man accused of carrying out a terrorist attack in Minto has shouted an apology to his victim in an extraordinary outburst in the Supreme Court.

Wayne Greenhalgh was walking away from the witness box when his attacker Ihsas Khan stood and yelled out to him.

“Mr Greenhalgh I’m so sorry for what I did to you. Can I speak to you? Sir I’m so sorry, you’re not the guy I thought you were," he said.

He was eventually restrained by Correctives Services officers.

Mr Greenhalgh had just given evidence about the day in September 2016 which he said changed his life forever.

Although he has returned to work as a panel saw operator he told the court, “I am battling with the heavy lifting and things like that".

The jury was also shown a video of the then-57-year-old grandfather lying in his hospital bed, bandages covering his arms and hands as he spoke to police.

He described the moment his 22-year-old neighbour came at him with what looked like a machete.

“He said words to the effect of I’m going to kill you, you are dead … To protect myself I had to put my arms and lucky I did," he said.

Bleeding profusely from the arms and hands, he said he managed to run to a nearby home hairdresser and lock himself inside, while brave neighbours fought Khan off with a fence paling.

Police eventually tasered Khan.

Yesterday Crown Prosecutor Peter Neil SC alleged it was a terror attack carried out by an intelligent but self-radicalised young man who wanted to be a martyr.

“In revenge for what he regarded as injustices for the Muslims in the Middle East,” Mr Neil said.

Khan has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of mental illness, arguing he was suffering from schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder at the time.