Trio accused of Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing to face key court hearing in May 2027

Three young men accused of torching a Melbourne synagogue in a suspected politically motivated attack will seek to explore police files for “alternative suspects”.

Giovanni Laulu, 22, Younes Ali Younes, 21, and Devante Romao, 20, have been charged with offences including arson and reckless conduct endangering life after the Adass Israel Synagogue was destroyed by fire on December 6, 2024.

Police allege the trio were caught on CCTV smashing their way into the Orthodox Jewish venue in Ripponlea about 4.15am after arriving at the scene in a stolen car.

About 100 litres of petrol in red jerry cans was poured throughout the building and set alight, causing an estimated $20m in damage and destroying sacred texts.

Two worshippers inside the building managed to escape, with one suffering minor burns to his hands after attempting to re-enter the synagogue.

Mr Laulu, Mr Ali Younes and Mr Romao returned before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning where the case was set down for a three-day committal hearing in May next year.

During the committal hearing, a magistrate will hear the evidence against the trio before deciding if it should be sent to a higher court for trial.

A two-day hearing was also listed in March after lawyers for the Chief Commissioner of Police flagged they would be making public interest immunity claims on some documents in the case.

Public interest immunity claims, if determined to be valid by a court, can restrict the sharing of confidential information deemed prejudicial to the public interest.

The court was told nearly 5000 documents containing about 19,000 pages, including redactions sought to be covered by the public interest immunity claims, had already been served on the defence teams for the trio.

Barrister Chris Terry, for Mr Laulu, said the legal team had been “struggling to keep our heads above water” while looking through the disclosed material, theatrically holding up multiple thumb drives with coloured tags on a key ring to the court.

Mr Terry said Mr Laulu’s defence may only challenge public interest immunity claims that “relate to potential alternative suspects” in the case – primarily in police information reports.

“Of the large number of documents disclosed, a smaller subset remains relevant to that issue,” he said.

Lawyers for Mr Ali Younes and Mr Romao nodding their heads when asked if this was a “shared position”.