Assyrian religious leader Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed several times while giving a sermon at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.
The church service was being live-streamed with supporters of the bishop rioting on the streets in protest of the stabbing. More than 50 police cars were damaged during the chaos with nearby multiple homes damaged.
Lebanese Muslim Association secretary and lawyer Gamel Kheir told news.com.au how the father of the 16-year-old boy accused of committing the act called him at 2am after a mutual friend passed on his number, saying he had “nowhere to go”.
Mr Kheir invited him to stay at Lakemba Mosque for the night.
“He was scared to go home because he thought he was going to get firebombed or that the police were going to arrest him. I said, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Mr Kheir said.
“I said the mosque is your home. I stayed with him till six o’clock in the morning.”
He said the boy’s father was “absolutely devastated” upon arriving at the mosque and told him he had no idea his son was capable of such a thing.
“The scariest part is, I asked him, did you see anything like this happening? He said other than him being disobedient to me there was no other sign,” Mr Kheir said.
“He was in shock and he was guilt-ridden all I could do was hug him and cry with him.”
The boy was taken by police to an undisclosed location for his own safety, after suffering severe injuries following a scuffle that took place shortly after the alleged stabbing.
He is currently under police guard in hospital. He has not been charged as police investigators have not formally interviewed him yet.
Mr Kheir called for calm and unity, saying that as a community, we could not give up on the boy.
“Let’s condemn the act, but let’s not condemn the boy. He’s a boy. We don’t have to give up on him,” he said.
“Our rightful condemnation should be on the people…who are catching these kids who are at their most sensitive stage and indoctrinating them into being antisocial.”