A former Canberra journalist threatened to behead Christians in his front yard, and warned one she was going to die after she told him that spending the night together might have been a mistake.
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James Michael Waugh, 29, was scheduled to face a hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday, but instead pleaded guilty to threatening to kill members of the Crossroads Christian Church and Canberra House of Prayer between January 4 and March 24 last year.
Prosecutors indicated they planned to withdraw charges of possessing an object to be used to kill, and using a carriage service to menace or harass.
An agreed statement of facts tendered to the court says Waugh began renting a house in Griffith in early 2018.
He placed an advertisement, seeking flatmates, on a Facebook page for Canberra Christians. Several members of the Crossroads Christian Church subsequently moved in.
Throughout the year Waugh's views differed from members of the church and he identified as a "white nationalist Muslim", according to the agreed facts, which also say he wanted to be recognised as a martyr.
In September 2018, he met a female church member at a party and they began to discuss theology.
The pair went to a number of bars on New Year's Eve that year and spent the night together.
But the next day, the woman told Waugh the previous night "might have been a mistake" and that she considered his views "quite extreme".
On January 4 last year, Waugh sent a number of messages to the church pastor that included: "If Crossroads doesn't pull [the woman] into line, we're going to tear her apart".
That night, Waugh sent the woman a message that said "you are going to die". He also asked for her address and told her: "I am going to burn your house down".
The agreed facts show the campaign of threats continued the next day, when Waugh asked the church pastor for his address and warned: "I'm going to cut you down like the dog you are, pray to God about that. Your kids are fair game as well, what school do they go to?"
On January 7, 2019, Waugh contacted the woman using his work phone and asked for her address. He identified himself using the first name of a church member he and the woman both knew.
Waugh then messaged the church member he had impersonated and said the woman "should be gutted like a f...ing dog", before leaving the woman a voicemail message that contained death threats.
The agreed facts say Waugh told police who came to his house that night that he was upset with members of the church and "wanted to punch the pastor responsible for the cult".
Police warned Waugh not to take matters into his own hands, and the woman and pastor both took out personal protection orders against him.
On March 22 last year, Waugh posted on the Canberra House of Prayer Facebook page, saying: "I'm going to kill every single one of you polytheist c.... as a reprisal for Christchurch", before giving his address.
Mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch had been targeted in a terror attack a week earlier.
"Get your gang together and come here and see what happens," Waugh's post said.
"I will fight your men on my property unarmed in broad daylight. Send the best you've got."
On the same day, Waugh sent a group chat message that warned recipients he would attack them if they approached him.
"The only good Trinitarian is a dead one," the message said.
"I have issued threats, along with my name and address, to every coward dog church in Canberra ... I've bought a scimitar and intend to cut their heads off in my front yard as a reprisal."
Waugh was arrested on April 2 last year. He told police in an interview that he had bought a scimitar from Pakistan and would use it to behead people if they attacked him, according to the agreed facts.
Waugh spent 146 days in custody before being granted bail.
He is due to be sentenced on May 6.
