Hackers delay US trial linked to Wieambilla shootings
Rex Martinich |
An Arizona man accused of communicating with an Australian family who carried out a deadly shooting will face a delayed US trial due to his lawyer’s computer network being hacked.
Brothers Nathaniel, 46, and Gareth Train, 47, used high-powered rifles during an ambush to kill Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, at a remote Queensland property in December 2022.
Arizona man Donald Day Jr, 60, was charged a year later in the US with making threats to public figures and FBI agents, as well as possessing illegal firearms.
US District Judge John Tuchi on Tuesday Arizona time ordered the trial start date be pushed back from April 22 to September 15.
Judge Tuchi had ruled in March that Queensland Police officers would be able to testify at the trial after US prosecutors said their evidence was necessary to prove Day was serious when he made threats after the Wieambilla shootings.
Day’s lawyer Jon Sands then applied to Judge Tuchi for a pre-trial conference and the trial itself to be delayed.
Mr Sands said that on March 30 the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Arizona discovered ransomware affecting local file storage and data backup systems on its network.
“At this time, the office has no access to its network and, accordingly, staff are limited in the work they can do.”
The Australian Cyber Security Centre describes ransomware as a common and dangerous type of malicious software.
“It works by locking up or encrypting your files so you can no longer access them.
“A ransom, usually in the form of cryptocurrency, is demanded to restore access to the files.”
Day allegedly sent messages about a “Christian end-of-days ideology” known as premillennialism to the members of the Train family in Queensland between May 2021 and December 2022.
He allegedly told FBI agents he felt responsible for the shootings as he had “added fuel to the fire”, after Queensland Police tried to contact the Trains.
Queensland Police had proposed to send two police officers and three forensic officers to testify in the trial.
Nathaniel Train joined Gareth and his sibling’s wife Stacey, 45, to fatally shoot neighbour Alan Dare, 58, soon after killing the two constables.
All three Trains were shot dead by specialist police officers hours later when they refused to negotiate or surrender.
Day entered pleas of not guilty to all charges in the Arizona District Court in May 2024 and has denied any involvement in the Wieambilla shootings.
AAP
