{"id":10218,"date":"2026-05-13T03:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10218\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:08:11","slug":"queensland-man-released-on-bail-after-ramming-synagogue-gates-with-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10218\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland man released on bail after ramming synagogue gates with car"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who allegedly had a “preoccupation with religion” when he rammed his car into the gates of Brisbane’s largest synagogue while high on drugs has been released on bail.<\/p>\n

Matthew Alexander Donald De Campo is charged with wilful damage, as an aggravated hate crime.<\/p>\n

It is alleged he deliberately reversed his ute into the front gate of Brisbane Synagogue in the CBD, and partially knocking it down in February.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old, who intends to fight the charge at trial, made an application for bail earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

It is alleged Mr De Campo deliberately reversed his ute into the front gate of Brisbane Synagoguge in February. (ABC News: Tara Cassidy)<\/p>\n

At the initial hearing, the Supreme Court was shown CCTV footage of the incident depicting Mr De Campo behind the wheel, which is not disputed.<\/p>\n

However Mr De Campo’s lawyer argued his client, who does contest any religious motivation, was affected by drugs at the time.<\/p>\n

It was submitted to the court Mr De Campo had an addiction to methamphetamine and cannabis and should be released into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility.<\/p>\n

Religious ‘preoccupation’<\/p>\n

Prosecutors opposed bail, submitting he had allegedly demonstrated “delusional behaviour” for some months prior to the incident.<\/p>\n

It was submitted Mr De Campo allegedly held a “preoccupation with religion in general”, not just with the Jewish faith, and had previously referenced the Bondi shootings.<\/p>\n

The court heard he had previously been convicted of weapon offences, including possessing knives and handguns, and was found with a machete shortly before this alleged offending.<\/p>\n

Justice Soraya Ryan adjourned the application so Mr De Campo could undergo a psychiatric assessment in prison.<\/p>\n

\"Signs<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court heard Mr De Campo had previously been convicted of weapons offences. (ABC News: Liz Pickering)<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the court heard a psychiatrist had reached an opinion that Mr De Campo was most likely experiencing drug-induced psychosis on the night of the ramming.<\/p>\n

In a report, the court heard Mr De Campo had “engaged much better” during his second assessment and had demonstrated no evidence of ongoing psychotic symptoms or delusions.<\/p>\n

The report said he was in the “action stage of change” and “highly motivated to engage in rehabilitation” upon his release from custody.<\/p>\n

Justice Ryan determined he could be released on bail, on the provision he is admitted to a facility to receive substance abuse treatment.<\/p>\n

His matter will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who allegedly had a “preoccupation with religion” when he rammed his car into the gates of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11381,22,21,99,11384,11383,11382,211,212,8961,11380,8962],"class_list":{"0":"post-10218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-antisemitic-attack","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-austrlia","11":"tag-brisbane","12":"tag-handguns","13":"tag-knives","14":"tag-matthew-alexander-donald-de-campo","15":"tag-qld","16":"tag-queensland","17":"tag-supreme-court","18":"tag-synagoguge","19":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}