Knife-wielding man cleared of threat at Parliament House on mental health grounds

Yohanes Mekonnen, 24, leaving court on Monday. Photo: Albert McKnight.

A man who threatened to hurt a staff member outside Parliament House during a conversation in which he said he was “down from Sydney and here to stab someone” has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing due to his mental health.

The worker had finished his shift at the building and was sitting in his car at the Queens Terrace car park around 6 pm on 21 July 2021 when Yohanes Mekonnen tapped on his window, agreed court documents say.

He asked about the pay parking machine before walking away, then returned and began making rambling comments before getting into the front passenger seat of the worker’s car.

At first, the worker thought he must have been lonely, so allowed him to stay. But Mekonnen started repeatedly asking him questions like “how much he valued his life”.

He told the worker he was a “psychopath” and asked him “if he would like to die a hero?”, as well as “where he imagined he would die”.

The worker repeatedly asked him to get out of his car, but Mekonnen wouldn’t. The worker then drove towards Parliament House to look for police or security.

As they were driving, the worker noticed Mekonnen was holding a knife in his lap with its blade pointed towards him. He was also holding a tyre iron.

Mekonnen told the worker that he was “down from Sydney and here to stab someone” and said, “If it isn’t you, it will be someone else”.

Yohanes Mekonnen was found not guilty by mental impairment. Photo: Albert McKnight.

The worker became scared he was going to be stabbed, so flashed his car’s lights to get the attention of police who were stationed outside Parliament House.

Officers approached, and Mekonnen told them he wanted to speak to then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

He would not elaborate on what he wanted to speak to Mr Morrison about, saying it was classified and above the officers’ pay grade.

The 24-year-old appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday (16 October), where his lawyer, Legal Aid’s Steph Corish, asked for him to be found not guilty by reason of mental impairment.

She said this was consented to by the prosecution.

He had been charged with making a threat to inflict grievous bodily harm. Special Magistrate Sean Richter found the offence proved, but after taking into account the agreed facts, a psychological report and treatment orders from the ACT and NSW, he also found Mekonnen not guilty by mental impairment.

The special magistrate ordered that he submit to the jurisdiction of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal to allow for a mental health or forensic mental health order.