John Howard Amundsen (born 1966) was the first Queenslander to be charged under national anti-terrorist laws in Australia. [1] These charges were later dropped. [2]
Amundsen has no children and lived with his mother in their Aspley home prior to his arrest. [3] [4] He was a teacher at Ferny Grove State High School and taught the subjects of manual arts, media and business. [3] [5] He had a previous career as a spokesman for Brisbane Airport. [6]
After being assessed by a psychologist, he was found to have autism spectrum disorder. [7] A report stated he often retreated into fantasy worlds, had trouble thinking rationally, lacked social skills, and needed psychotherapy to assist his issues with anxiety and depression. [7]
Amundsen gained notoriety in May 2006, after a stockpile of explosives and detonators were found in his home which caused the school he worked at to be evacuated and searched. [3] [4] [5] [8] [9] On 10 May 2006, the school was closed for most of the morning as police with sniffer dogs checked classrooms, before they declared it safe for students and staff to resume lessons. [3] In a Brisbane court on 11 May 2006, he was charged with fraudulently obtaining 53 kg of the explosive substance Powergel. [9] [1] [10] He was subsequently charged with preparing a terrorist act, as well as two counts of making a threat and making a hoax threat. [9] Amundsen was held at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Wacol. [11]
In February 2007, the charges of terrorism and making a hoax threat were dropped but replaced with new charges of possessing incendiary devices and having dangerous goods in a vehicle. [12] [2] In February 2008, he was jailed for six years for offences surrounding a plot to scare the parents of his ex-girlfriend so that he would win back their daughter. [1] He pleaded guilty to making threats and possession of dangerous goods and weapons. [10] Taking into account the 22 months spent in pre-sentence custody, Amundsen was released on parole in May 2009. [6] [10]
In February 2010, Amundsen was charged with stalking after the alleged victim found a GPS tracking device on her car. [10] [13] The alleged victim was the sister of the same ex-girlfriend Amundsen had attempted to win back with his 2006 bomb scare. [13] Police were convinced Amundsen was responsible. [13]
In 2014, Amundsen was found guilty of unlawful stalking of his former partner stemming back to 2011. [14] [15] While pretending to be someone else, he had called, emailed and sent friend requests to her on social media. [14] Amundsen represented himself in court and pleaded not guilty. [16] Amundsen was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, but with time served his parole eligibility was set at 1 March 2015. [14] He received a five-year restraining order from his victim and her daughters. [14] Amundsen told jurors that they had "failed a good, decent, Christian man" after they handed down the guilty verdict. [15] Amundsen believed the case against him was a feminist plot. [15]