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The clock tower of the University of Otago, hours after a graduation ceremony was canceled due to an online threat.
Three emails sent from the same IP address threatened an attack on a university graduation, with police unable to “neutralize” the threat, newly released emails show.
The shooting threat led to 2,500 University of Otago and several hundred Otago Polytechnic students missing their graduations, sparking a major police investigation in December 2020.
The person behind that threat – a 24-year-old woman who is on temporary name suppression – was sentenced to a five-month curfew and nine months of surveillance over the incident.
Her emails to the tertiary institution contain a threat that the terror attacks in Christchurch Mosque would appear as “child’s play”.
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Hamish Mcneilly / Stuff
Olivia Woolford, Katie Millar and Charlotte Van der Lee, all from Auckland, discuss their postponed graduation from the University of Otago.
About 188 pages of senior management emails about the threat were released to: stuff under the Civil Service Act.
In total, three email threats were sent: two were bounced back to the sender, while the third was picked up by Ask Otago, the university’s service portal.
That email, sent at 4:30 a.m. on December 7, had the subject line, “NOTE: Gunshot attack on your graduation is coming.”
A university IT specialist noted that the emails came from an Internet Protocol (IP) address in New Zealand – a string of numbers identifying every device on a network – and which “might be of interest”.
“We must forward this comment and the attached emails to relevant security forces.”
University of Otago/delivered
An email threat sent to the University of Otago
Proctor Dave Scott sent an email advising that the police be notified nationally, as well as the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
Senior university personnel had an appointment with police a day before two graduations on Wednesday, December 9.
On the morning of that graduation, it was noted that the police had updated their advice and recommended “that the graduation be postponed,” according to an email from the Otago Registrar.
“As their investigations progress, they have been unable to neutralize the threat.
“Let’s hope the full force of the law helps identify the person involved and hold him accountable,” said another email from an Otago University council member.
hamish mcneilly/stuff
Otago University to graduate hours after a graduation ceremony was canceled due to an online threat.
Police did increase their presence on campus, as plans for Saturday’s ceremony were still in effect at the time.
However, another released email suggested an alternative solution was being explored just days before the parade. “Do we want to do it. Postpone or cancel together’, they were asked.
On Friday, all hopes of holding the Saturday graduation ceremony were dashed, with an email from Hayne noting: “Police have strongly recommended that the graduations scheduled for Saturday be postponed, and we support their recommendation.
“The safety of anyone planning to attend the ceremonies and the wider Dunedin community is at the heart of this difficult decision.”
Another e-mail, this time sent on December 18, confirmed that as part of “Operation Grad,” police had arrested a 22-year-old woman on charges of threatening property or persons, and that she would appear in court. Auckland.
“I know this information will bring a sense of relief to the entire university and community of Dunedin,” Hayne said in an email to affected students.
That same email stated that 2,500 students were directly affected by the postponed ceremonies, while further postponements at Otago Polytechnic affected several hundred students.
Upon her July 2021 sentencing, the court heard the woman threatened with the assault not to tell her parents about her academic failures in Otago, instead leading her to believe she would graduate in December 2020.
After failing to buy a fake diploma online, the woman started creating email accounts and pretending to be a far-right extremist. One address was in the name of the convicted Christchurch mosque terrorist.