Prisoners Remember Living With the Melbourne Siege Terrorist

Watch our investigation into global terrorism in "Terror." It's on tonight on SBS VICELAND at 9:25 PM.

On Monday June 5, a 29-year-old man by the name of Yacqub Khayre murdered a male attendant of a Melbourne apartment building, before taking a woman hostage. Three police were injured in the ensuing shootout before Khayre was shot dead. Later that week ISIS claimed Khayre was a soldier of the Islamic State.

Reports have since emerged of the Khayre's long rap sheet, which included methamphetamine possession, firearm offences, and an acquittal for conspiracy to attack Holsworth Army Barracks in 2010. At the time of the siege, he was also on parole after serving four years for aggravated burglary. Predictably, there have been calls from the Turnbull Government for Victoria to change its bail laws, as well as a slew of claims Australia needs to revise its tolerance of Islam.

But was Khayre truly a religious man? Or were his motivations a simple lust for money and drugs? To find out we asked prisoners who were locked up with him to paint a picture of the Yacqub Khayre they knew.

All names have been changed to protect the identities of people who are still serving time.

I remember him when he first got lobbed to Port Phillip Prison. He was acting like a sook. There were maybe five or 10 of us in the unit—talking shit, playing pool—and he kept complaining about everything from the food to the pillows. Then he looked over at one of the blokes who's most likely going to spend his whole life in there. The bloke's spent around 15 years in there already, and [Khayre] goes, "I've had enough of this place, I don't know how much longer I can do it."

I first thought it was a huge disrespect to the bloke who had made Port Phillip his home. Usually if you say anything like that in our unit everyone thinks you're a fucking dog. That's because if you're not man enough to do the time, you're most likely going to do whatever it takes to get out—like be a fucking dog. But now I think the cunt might have been fed up with his own life and just wanted any old excuse to fuck off. He was just a weak cunt, in here and out there. He wasn't a Muslim, they're a good lot. He was just a lowlife crook.

I first saw him in the visit centre in Barwon. My missus would visit me the same time on Saturdays as he would get visits from two or three Somali guys, wearing the full Arab get up. I went over to say hello once, and one of his mates just looked at me and wouldn't shake my hand. I thought, What the fuck is up this cunt's ass? and walked off.

Then I heard the same bloke lecturing him about us kaffirs in the prison. I thought maybe I was tweaking out and acting para from years on the shard, you know? So I go, "You talking about me ya black cunt?" It really sparked a fire in their bellies. But, seriously, he used to hang around with all of us. We are all mates with the Muslims in here. Everyone gets along most of the time, but those cunts changed him.

He wouldn't even talk to some of the Muslims, he just did his own thing. I overheard the three wise men—we used to call them that—saying shit like, "If the so called Muslims are too far gone, don't make things more difficult for yourself, wallahi just focus and trust in Allah." He was never a hard man on his own, he just hid behind the Muslim banner and crumbled when shit hit the fan. There were two Maori brothers that used to poke fun and bully him in his unit all the time. Man, he was a fucking loser.

When he first came in we looked after him. Inside, the Muslims look after each other. We organised him a toothbrush, shampoo, his buy ups, and that. I knew his family, they are very good Australians. They are hardworking people and they shouldn't be blamed for the actions of this idiot. I pulled him up a few times because he was really dumb and a suck up. It's hard to teach someone the right path when the system is positioned against them. He was frustrated about the way we were treated in jail, the way we were treated in Australia, and the way we were treated in our countries.

And I get that. Look, the same week he did what he did and all that stuff happened in London, there were multiple bombs dropped on Afghanistan. Peaceful protestors were gunned down in the street, funerals were being bombed, and no one batted an eyelid. How would that make you feel if your whole family gets bombed while they're attending the funeral of your cousin who was gunned down in front of his wife? Hundreds are being slaughtered there, but we get one or two deaths in Brighton and we have to all pause in silence. Why are we more valuable than them? That's what motivates these kids. We are making it easy to trick them into believing and fighting for things they know nothing about.

But look, his actions were his own. In the system we don't condone any of that sort of shit and we have a good set of boys who just do the prayers and don't mess about. Shias and Sunnis, we are all one. One ummah. These radical idiots, we sideline them brother. They want to act like that they can freakin' piss off to Syria. Yacqub was vulnerable, like a lot of these young guys. They come in from broken places and they need something to make them feel at home. Then these backyard sheikhs start lecturing them about Iraq this and look at Afghanistan that. They make the kids go loopy because they don't have the balls to put in work themselves. Then these backyard sheikhs sit back and line their pockets while good young Muslim boys wreak havoc and get bowled over by cops while everyone applauds.

Follow Mahmood on Instagram and Twitter

Watch our investigation into global terrorism in "Terror." It screens tonight on SBS VICELAND at 9:25 PM.