Father’s shame at threat arrest
The father of a teen who is a member of a shadowy white nationalist group says he did not bring his son up to have racist views.
Sam Richard Scott Brittenden, 19, was arrested on Wednesday when police executed a search warrant at a Christchurch address.
He appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday on an unrelated charge of failing to assist with a search warrant before Judge Tony Couch.
The threat was issued on Sunday night – about two weeks before the anniversary of March 15 – on an encrypted messaging app, accompanied by a photo of a masked man sitting in a car outside the mosque.
Brittenden’s duty lawyer, Paul Johnson, asked for suppression on the grounds that further charges were pending, but was declined. Brittenden declined to answer a series of questions by media outside court.
Stuff has confirmed through multiple sources that he is a member of Action Zealandia – a far-Right white nationalist group that in recent weeks has attempted to gain publicity.
Brittenden’s father, Scott Brittenden, said yesterday he was ‘‘extremely disappointed’’ in his son.
‘‘I haven’t brought my son up to be like this,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve got to support my son – that’s the most important thing to me. I know he’s stuffed up, but I’m not aware of anything because no-one has told me all the facts yet.’’
Scott Brittenden said he was yet to speak to his son.
In June 2019, the Otago Daily Times reported that Brittenden – then a law student at the University of Otago – was arrested after making racial slurs while partying on the streets of Dunedin on March 15.
Police were clearing Castle St when he approached their patrol vehicle and said words to the effect of: ‘‘Muslims are not welcome in our country. Go home Muslims.’’
Brittenden argued he was exercising his freedom of speech.
He was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court to 125 hours’ community work and six months’ supervision after pleading guilty to disorderly behaviour.
Brittenden wrote a letter to the court stressing his shame, the ODT reported. ‘‘I want you to know that this moment of drunken anger and utter stupidity is not at all a reflection of my character, but rather a brief moment of chaos,’’ he said.
He told the ODT he absolutely rejected the notion he had any extreme political views.
A former flatmate of Brittenden’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the ODT, said earlier the teenager made racist comments before the March incident and had once donned a Ku Klux Klan-style hood. Brittenden said the ex-flatmate might have been trying to ‘‘stitch him up’’.
Brittenden, whose mother and other relatives were in court yesterday, was remanded on bail with conditions not to enter Hagley Park, and not to use or possess firearms or restricted weapons. He will appear again on March 19.
Police have said they are continuing to gather information about the threat, and were aware some people had shared the image.
Activist group Paparoa, which tracks white nationalism and online hate speech, alleges it has evidence of the teenager describing his ‘‘group of fascists’’ in Christchurch. ‘‘We are deeply concerned about Islamophobia being increasingly normalised and tolerated in New Zealand society,’’ a Paparoa spokesman said.
Action Zealandia began recruiting for members at the end of July last year. The far-Right group is part of a wider identitarian movement found in Australia, United States and Europe, is fearful of ‘‘replacement’’ and holds views that have motivated both the alleged Christchurch and El Paso mass shooters.
Members mostly inhabit online spaces and share photos of themselves, with their faces masked or blurred, holding banners and stickering their message on targets.