The 18-year-old was granted interim name suppression when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and admitted posting a harmful digital communication.
Court documents revealed the gamer was playing Battlefield 6 on his PlayStation with up to 64 others. He used the in-game chat to falsely state a full name, even providing a driver’s licence number and version, which he claimed were his.
"I’m going to blow up Birnidie Mousqe 11 Queens Drive wellington 6022 New Zealand," (sic) he wrote. "29% Dilute Calcium carbonate 71% Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer bomb."
He then claimed to live at an address linked to a Waikato social services company, the acronym of which is SWAT.
Swatting is a term used to describe a hoax call made to authorities with the express purpose of luring them to a location. Police said this was not a case of swatting.
"The threat, while made under a pseudonym in a digital forum, was specifically directed at the Muslim community," a police spokeswoman said.
One gamer was alarmed by the messages, so took screenshots and alerted police.
The message disturbed the day-to-day events at the Kilbirnie Mosque, which suspended all activities while investigations took place.
When spoken to by police, the defendant admitted what he had done, but said he had no intent to carry out the threat.
Yesterday, counsel John Westgate said he would argue his client should not be convicted and his name be permanently suppressed at sentencing in March.
