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A Bangladeshi student accused of stabbing her homestay landlord while he slept told police she travelled to Australia with the sole intention of killing someone on behalf of Islamic State.
The admission is contained in an explosive interview with police released to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court today, where Momena Shoma appeared, facing attempted murder and terrorism charges.
Wearing a black Islamic gown and veil revealing just her eyes, Ms Shoma refused to stand for Magistrate Sarah Dawes.
In the interview, the 25-year-old said she wanted to "trigger the West" and attacked Roger Singaravelu, 54, while he was sleeping because he was "vulnerable" and "an easy target".
She had no personal grudge against Mr Singaravelu, whose house in Melbourne's northern suburbs she had moved into the day before she attacked him, she said.
"It could have been anybody, not necessarily should have been Roger," she said.
"I attempted murder."
The record of interview was released by Ms Dawes after Ms Shoma's lawyers indicated she was likely to plead guilty to "appropriate charges" and waived her right to a committal.
In the police interview, conducted hours after the attack, Ms Shoma answered questions fully and calmly.
Commanded to kill
She described in detail stabbing Mr Singaravelu with a kitchen knife in the neck because, she said, "I think I thought that would be fatal".
That morning she had downloaded a video from Islamic State's media centre, Al Hayat, entitled Flames of War.
Watching the videos made her feel like a loser, she said, because she thought she wouldn't be able to commit the violent jihad portrayed in the films.
She told police she was commanded to kill by Islamic State.
"I felt obligated, and it was like a burden on me," she said.
She said she felt relieved after the attack because she had tried.
"In front of Allah I just can tell him that I tried, that's it," she said.
She told police she had practised the act, driving a knife into a pillow at her previous homestay residence in Bundoora.
Blood spraying 'like a fountain'
Mr Singaravelu's statement to police after the alleged attack on February 9 described Ms Shoma as crying "Allah akbah" as she drove a kitchen knife into his neck while he lay sleeping next to his young daughter.
"I thought I was dreaming as I felt a sharp pain on my neck," he told police.
"I woke up and started screaming. I saw Suma [Ms Shoma] right next to me.
"She was on her knees with both of her hands on a knife that was in my neck."
Mr Singaravelu described how he grabbed the knife and pushed Ms Shoma off him, while his daughter was screaming and crying.
Blood was spraying out of his neck "like a fountain", he said.
She refused to enter a plea for the charges of attempted murder and one count of engaging in an act of terrorism, so Magistrate Dawes entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf.
She was committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
'Felt like a prisoner'
Ms Shoma began seriously practising Islam in 2012, but felt like a prisoner in her own house, she said, because she was the only member of her family to practise such an extreme form of Islam.
She began following online preachers, including notorious Yemeni preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, and looking at Islamic State videos.
Ms Shoma said she had not heard of former Melbourne-based Islamic State recruit Neil Prakash, who is currently detained in Turkey, when asked by police.
She arrived in Melbourne on February 1 and moved to a homestay family, but had to leave on February 8 because a family member was ill.
She then moved to Mr Singaravelu's home where she allegedly attempted to murder him the next day.
Mr Singaravelu and his wife Moha had taken homestay students for five years.
They were both in court today to see Ms Shoma for the first time since the incident.
Mr Singaravelu suffered damage to his spine and hand as a result of the alleged attack.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, terrorism, murder-and-manslaughter, crime, melbourne-3000, mill-park-3082, vic
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