The sister of the man accused of yesterday’s deadly stabbing rampage in Sydney’s CBD has denied he was motivated by extremist ideologies, saying he dealt with serious mental health issues for some time before the attack.
The woman, who did not want her full name printed, spoke to reporters outside her family’s Marayong home this afternoon about her brother Mert Ney.
“All of this stuff about extremism, white supremacy, stuff like that… that’s just news to me,” she said, referring to a USB held by her brother which contained references to recent terror attacks in the United States and New Zealand.
“Using religion as an excuse, it’s not right. It’s not correct,” she said.
The Daily Telegraph reports she said “he’s not a terrorist, god no, he’s messed up, I wish I could fix it but I can’t do anything.”
The Australian reports she said “I think it’s obvious that it’s, like, steep descent into, like, insanity I guess.”
She seemed to confirm earlier reports that Mert was wanted by police for questioning over an alleged domestic violence incident last Wednesday, telling The Daily Telegraph she was the original complainant.
“He ran at me, punched and choked me, I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Mert is expected to face charges of murder over the death of a 21-year-old woman, and serious assault charges pertaining to the stabbing of a 41-year-old woman.
“All the words that I can say isn’t ever gonna bring her back, is it?” she said.
“I want to say, I’m really, really sorry.”
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