Lookout avoids jail for role in Woollahra hate crime spree

A Sydney court has heard the real reason behind 21-year-old Thomas Stojanovski’s participation in a spree of antisemitic vandalism and arson that shocked Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

On Tuesday 25 November, Sutherland Local Court heard that Stojanovski, who avoided jail time, joined the late-night rampage not out of hate but because he was offered $1,000 to buy drugs.

The crime spree on 21 November 2024 saw Stojanovski acting as a lookout, shining a torch, while co-offender Mohommed Farhat spray-painted antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans on 10 cars, two buildings including the Woollahra Fire Station, and celebrity chef Matt Moran’s Chiswick restaurant.

 

A white Ford Ranger worth $86,000 was doused in petrol and set on fire, causing flames up to three metres high and $16,000 in damage to a neighbouring car.

The total damage across all properties was estimated at over $100,000, with graffiti including phrases like “F**k Israel” and “PKK coming”, the latter referencing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Australia. The affected vehicles were parked along Wellington, Tara, Fullerton, and Ocean streets in Woollahra, an area with a significant Jewish community.

Emergency services responded quickly to the blaze just after midnight, and luckily nobody was physically harmed, an outcome the court described as due to “sheer luck”.

In preparation, Farhat purchased materials, including two jerry cans, 9.8 litres of fuel, a lighter, and a box of tissues from a Kingsgrove petrol station. He used his phone to search for targets, including “Jewish Hospital Bondi” and specific Woollahra street names.

CCTV footage captured the pair approaching vehicles under cover of darkness, with Farhat spraying white and blue paint while Stojanovski kept watch.

After igniting the Ford Ranger, Farhat shouted “sh*t” before they fled on foot to Edgecliff Road, abandoned their car, and took an Uber to Farhat’s home in Beverly Hills.

Stojanovski was arrested days later at his Arncliffe residence.

Both men pleaded guilty to charges including two counts of destroying property using fire, 10 counts of destroying or damaging property, three counts of entering land with intent to commit an indictable offence, and three additional counts of destroying or damaging property.

In court at Sutherland Local Court, Magistrate Scott Nash accepted Stojanovski’s claim that he was not driven by racial hatred but was motivated by unemployment and a need for money for illicit drugs and painkillers.

The court found he did not help plan the attack, buy the materials, or actively participate in the graffiti or arson, but merely acted as lookout while Farhat took the lead.

Farhat, who has a Hezbollah tattoo on his neck indicating possible hate-based motives, played the primary role and received a sentence of one year and eight months in prison, with a 10-month non-parole period, setting him up for release in the coming weeks.

Stojanovski was sentenced to an 11-month intensive corrections order to be served in the community, including supervision and 84 hours of community service.

The magistrate warned that acts of religious or racial hatred would be met with severe consequences and highlighted Stojanovski’s remorse, clean criminal record, and lack of prior involvement as factors in the lenient sentencing.

Nash described it as “abhorrent” that Stojanovski continued once he realised the antisemitic nature of the acts.

The case has attracted national attention amid a climate of rising antisemitic attacks in Australia, with incidents increasing significantly since the Israel-Hamas conflict escalated in October 2023.