How a troubled Australian teenager was radicalized by Muslim extremists inside prison - becoming a feared jihadist known as 'The Carver' after gruesome attack on cellmate
- Prison staff dubbed Bourhan Hraichie 'The Carver' after shocking crimes
- 18-year-old slashed Islamic State slogan into head of Army reservist cellmate
- Hraichie also threatened to behead the boss of the NSW prisons authority
- But 'the last thing this guy is, is a terrorist,' his bodybuilder father Ahmad said
- Hraichie once dreamed of being an electrician and 'made everybody laugh'
- Always impressionable, fell under the spell of radicals behind bars, dad said
A violent jihadist who carved Islamic State slogans into a prison cellmate's head was once a 'typical Aussie teen' who made his family laugh and dreamed of becoming an electrician.
Growing up, Bourhan Hraichie - now known by his nickname 'The Carver' – dominated Little Athletics, worked at Hungry Jacks and didn't enjoy going to the mosque.
But that was before the impressionable teenager allegedly 'fell under the spell' of a group of Muslim radicals behind bars.
His father, Ahmad, says his son was 'brainwashed' by these extremists and is calling for a royal commission into the widespread radicalisation of prisoners.
His call comes amid growing concern that jails such as Goulburn's 'Supermax' - where Hraichie is held alongside serial killer Ivan Milat and some of Australia's most dangerous criminals - have become 'supermosques' that are breeding grounds for extremism.
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Apprentice electrician turned jihadist Bourhan Hraichie (above), 21, launched a brutal attack on his cellmate, a former Australian Army reservist, three years ago
'The Carver': Hraichie as he is behind bars in Australia's highest security prison (mugshot on left) and (right) the results of his brutal attack on Port Macquarie resident Michael O'Keefe
'He spiralled': Bourhan's father Ahmad Hraichie (above) said his son was an apprentice electrician from a good family - but lost control of his life after falling in with an older crowd
Three years ago, an enraged Bourhan attacked Australian Army reservist Michael O'Keefe at a jail in Kempsey, engraving a series of Islamic State slogans into his head.
The 18-year-old screamed in Arabic to his fellow prisoners as he whipped O'Keefe with an electrical cord and carved him with a razor blade, leaving him for dead.
The shocking attempted murder landed him in Australia's highest security prison, Goulburn's SuperMax. Bourhan then threatened to behead the boss of the state prison authority.
But his father, speaking to Daily Mail Australia as his son awaits sentencing on attempted murder and terror offences, claimed Bourhan wasn't a terrorist, but a kid from a 'good family' who had been afforded every opportunity.
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Mr Hraichie said his son once dreamed of being an electrician, worked at Hungry Jacks and was a 'cute little boy who made everyone laugh'.
That all changed when the family moved to Greenacre, in Sydney's southwest, and Bourhan desperately wanted to impress the Year 12 boys at school.
'He got onto drugs, he started to steal, his addictions grew and look what happened,' Mr Hraichie said.
Bourhan Hraichie, seen working for his father's health food store as a teenager
A fourth generation Lebanese-Australian, whose great-grandfather migrated to the country in the 1940s, Bourhan was in and out of trouble with police throughout his early teenage years.
Mr Hraichie called in the cops on his own son after he stole money from his wallet and robbed family properties.
'He's very easily influenced,' said Mr Hraichie, a former Army reservist and NSW Police Ethnic Liaison officer.
Bourhan's troubles peaked when he became addicted to the drug ice, took his mother's car for a joy ride and 'wrote it off'.
He had only four weeks left on parole when he was charged with breaking into a home - landing back in the prison where he attempted to murder O'Keefe.
'He wanted to belong to something - and there must be something in jails where obviously you've got to belong to some group or faction to fit in,' Mr Hraichie said.
'He's the kind of person who would take things to the next step - because he's fearless.'
Hraichie said his son 'wanted to belong to something' and was very easily influenced by others
The savage attack
Before prison, Bourhan had shown little interest in the Islamic faith, let alone terrorism, his father said.
'I tried to take him to the mosque with me a few times - as quick as he'd get in he'd be out the back door.'
Bourhan's attack on O'Keefe came after he and a gang of other Muslim prisoners had a conversation with the former reservist about the Islamic State in Syria.
In a blatant attempt to provoke O'Keefe, one member of the group told the patriot 'they would love to go fight for ISIS'.
'Jail is heaven for Muslims, they love it and find more soldiers for their causes,' O'Keefe said, in a reference to extremists.
He remembers dismissing a warning that Bourhan was a 'bit of a f***en' psycho', telling another prisoner he would see how the first night went before swapping cells.
The 'e4e' carving on Michael O'Keefe's head stands for the Islamic State slogan 'an eye for an eye'. On right, O'Keefe shows off the cuts on his chest and neck
O'Keefe's bruised back is seen after Hraichie whipped him with a coaxial cord
O'Keefe recalls the events of that fateful day as follows.
'(Bourhan) was up near the jug (and I asked him) ''can we put the jug on and we'll have a coffee.'
'He puts the jug on and walks over towards me ... he's just smacked me one.
'I thought 'what the f***' ... I was in a daze.
'He hit me again, I hit the side of the wall.'
O'Keefe can only remember snippets of what happened next, including finding Bourhan on top of him, 'pounding the f*** out of me'.
Police would later say he was whipped across the back with a coaxial cord, had hot water poured on him and 'e4e' - for 'an eye for an eye' - carved into his forehead.
The faint scars remain there to this day.
The 'e4e' carving in Michael O'Keefe's head - as seen in August 2017
At one point, Bourhan opened up the latch at the front of the cell and yelled out to his fellow Muslim inmates, O'Keefe recalled.
'They all yelled out something in their lingo.
'He started cutting me, then he started pouring hot water down my throat'.
A dazed and bleeding O'Keefe said he was 'disrespectful, spitting sh** at (Bourhan).'
After about 20 minutes, Bourhan buzzed authorities on the prison intercom.
Bourhan said words to the effect of 'you better come and get him, he's f***ed', O'Keefe recalled.
Prison officers stormed the room, treading past O'Keefe's battered body.
O'Keefe was flown to hospital by helicopter.
He was left with a broken sternum and wounds to his neck, head and face.
Inside one of the austere cells at the High Risk Management Correctional Centre at Goulburn, where Hraichie lives
Supermax presents a sterile environment which more resembles a secure mental hospital than a typical Australian jail. Since it opened in September 2001 there have been no escapes
Years on, Mr Hraichie said his son had started to come to terms with his crimes inside the High Risk Management Centre in Goulburn, two hours' drive from Sydney.
He is in segregation in the prison, which he also shares with the likes of mass killer Ivan Milat and Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy.
'He seems like he's regretful of what he's done,' Mr Hraichie said.
'He seems If he could change time, he would change his actions.
'But he knows what he's done. And he knows he's got to pay his time now.'
Bourhan will be sentenced by a Supreme Court justice in late March.
His wound with attempt to murder charge alone is punishable by a maximum 25 years imprisonment.
LIFE IN SUPERMAX FOR BOURHAN HRAICHIE: INSIDE AUSTRALIA'S MOST SECURE PRISON
By Stephen Gibbs
A couple of hours drive out of Sydney nestled in prime sheep grazing country is Australia's most secure prison, where some of the country's worst criminals are held.
The High Risk Management Correctional Centre - better known as Supermax - is a modern jail within an old one, sitting in a corner of the Goulburn prison complex.
The facility houses men who cannot be allowed to mix in the wider prison system let alone walk free in the community but is within sight of suburban homes and farms.
Most of the older Anglo and Aboriginal prisoners who were here years ago are long gone and those who remain are now vastly outnumbered by young jihadis with Middle Eastern ancestry.
Whereas backpacker killer Ivan Milat once generated the most headlines from behind Supermax's bars, that dishonour now falls to prison menace Bassam Hamzy.
Brothers 4 Life gang founder and killer Bassam Hamzy (left) is one of the most dangerous inmates in Australia. Serial killer Ivan Milat (right) murdered seven backpackers in the Belanglo State Forest between 1989 and 1992 and has been in Supermax since it opened in 2001
Supermax was opened in September 2001 within the grounds of what was originally called Goulburn Gaol, a heritage-listed institution established in 1884.
Goulburn, Australia's first inland city, is 197km south-west of Sydney and about 90km north-east of Canberra. The prison complex is on Maud Street, to the right of the Hume Highway if heading south.
A Supermax inmate is moved from one area of the prison to another accompanied by three Corrective Services officers. Prisoners are under CCTV surveillance 24 hours a day
Corrective Services officers remove ankle cuffs from an inmate inside his cell at Goulburn's Supermax prison. Prisoners are subject to extreme security measures throughout the jail
The main Goulburn jail is a maximum security facility which holds hundreds of the worst criminals in New South Wales.
The 75-bed Supermax has been home to men among the most dangerous in the country, with serial killers, mass murderers and terrorists in its cells.
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott has described it as a 'Godless place'.
The centre was purpose-built to house inmates who require the highest level of security and more than 170 surveillance cameras monitor them 24 hours a day.
