Fundamentalist Christians charged over their alleged harassment of Muslims at mosques around Brisbane will fight the charges, their leader says.
Pillar Baptist Church pastor Logan Robertson was deported to New Zealand but is now believed to be in the Philippines. Photo: Supplied/YouTube
Logan Robertson was deported to New Zealand after being arrested in Brisbane earlier this month, but made the comments in a video he posted online.
Mr Robertson is the self-proclaimed pastor of the Pillar Baptist Church, which started in New Zealand.
Three other men also arrested after incidents at mosques south of Brisbane, were charged with public nuisance, trespass and entering a premises with intent to commit an offence.
"They're obviously going to plead not guilty because they're not guilty of the charges," Mr Robertson said in a video posted online.
The group did not appear in the Holland Park Magistrates Court in Brisbane today, but was instead represented by a lawyer.
It is unclear how Mr Robertson's own case will proceed, after he chose not to fight a deportation order issued by the Department of Home Affairs.
It is believed he is currently in the Philippines.
The case was adjourned until 20 September, giving police time to provide a brief of evidence to the defence.
A warrant was also issued for Mr Robertson. However the warrant was postponed until the next court date, when formal details of his deportation were expected to be provided to the court.
The Pillar Baptist Church, which has a small congregation in Brisbane and has a history of opposing Islam, abortion and homosexuality, is not affiliated with the Queensland Baptists or the Australian Baptist Ministries.
Police seized recording equipment and charged the four church members after they travelled together to an Islamic school and two mosques and allegedly verbally abused worshippers.
The Pillar Baptist group was stopped by police a short time later, Mr Robertson was taken into immigration detention and had his visa cancelled.
Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Mr Robertson had already been counselled prior to arriving in Australia last year about his past behaviour.
In a video posted online on 21 July, Mr Robertson said he chose not to appeal against his deportation after spending 12 days in immigration detention.
"The lawyer said if I want to get my visa back it's going to take at least three months of waiting in that detention centre and costs about 10k," he said.
"I've got better things to do so I just decided to go voluntarily.
"Just saying you hate the religion now gets you deported from a country. How sick is a government that would do something like that?"
Mr Robertson had already sparked controversy in New Zealand by saying people in gay marriages should be shot, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern should "get in the kitchen where women belong".
He was rebuked by Baptist Churches of New Zealand in 2014, who said he had never been affiliated with their denomination.
"The NZ Baptist churches have been demeaned by his vitriol, leaving many of our Baptist church members and pastors wrongly implicated by Robertson's actions," the church said.
New Zealand police reportedly launched an investigation into Mr Robertson but dropped the case on the basis there was no evidence to suggest he had committed any crimes.
- ABC
