The teenager who jumped over the security gates to the parliamentary complex in February and threatened various workers with a knife was hoping to be shot dead by a military police officer, the AD said on Wednesday.

Tijn B, who is 19, had no plans to kill anyone and no terrorist motive, his lawyer said during a preparatory court hearing. “If he had come across a politician nothing would have happened,” the lawyer said.

B, from Nijmegen, was seriously depressed and suicidal at the time of the incident, the lawyer said. Before bursting into the parliamentary building, he had thrown his telephone and cards into the pond nearby.

He was arrested by military police officers and no-one was injured during the incident.

The public prosecution department has accused the youngster of planning a terrorist murder and making threats against a number of people.

The teenager has been held in the Vught high security prison since his arrest and is receiving treatment for his depression. “I miss home so much,” he told the court. “The only thing I want to say is that I want to go home.”

Nevertheless, judges remanded him in custody until the next hearing. The full case will be heard in October.