A socially awkward man who was found with notebooks containing “horrific fantasies of quite extreme violence” will be released from custody.
The 21-year-old, who cannot be named due to an indefinite suppression order over his identity, appeared in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday where a judge ruled he should be freed immediately.
The man first came to the attention of police in February 2024 when the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations notified Victoria Police about suspicious activity on Reddit after a tip off from a member of the public.
“They don’t know they’re all going to die for bullying me and ignoring me … this is the day I take my revenge,” the man, then 19, had posted online.
Crown prosecutor Jordan O’Toole told the court police searched his parents’ home on February 20, locating 500 rounds of ammunition, chemical precursors for explosives and handwritten diaries.
He said the diaries were found to contain research and plans for homemade explosives, references to chemical and biological agents and “references to planning and preparation for what appears to be a school shooting” and other acts of mass violence.
Quoting a section of the diary, Mr O’Toole said the man had written; “they can’t keep ignoring me, it’s too much to handle”.
“I need to raise the game up a notch … chemical and biological agents, even as I’m writing this I feel excited.”
The prosecutor said police conducted inquiries into the man’s banking history, finding online transactions for the purchase of a tactical vest and precursor chemicals, including a purchase of 250g of potassium nitrate that “has not been located”.
Police raided the teenager’s home again in September the same year, finding further quantities of chemicals that can be used to make explosives, thermite, tactical gear and ball bearings.
‘This time I will not hold back, I’ve done my research’
On the man’s mobile phone, Mr O’Toole said they’d found a partially constructed building in the video game Minecraft that bore a “strong resemblance” to the secondary school he attended before being suspended.
Under the terms of the suppression order, the name of the school in Melbourne cannot be published.
“If society refuses to allow me in then I have to bust that door down with any way possible,” the man had written in a new notebook found by police.
“I myself will have run out of excuses … This time I will not hold back, I’ve done my research — its infallible.”
The court was told the teenager was taken into custody where he has remained for the past 667 days.
He returned to court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two charges of possessing an explosive substance without excuse.
Called by the man’s defence, consultant forensic clinical psychiatrist Michael Davis gave evidence he’d diagnosed the man with autism-spectrum disorder and schizotypal personality disorder.
Dr Davis said the man is, and would remain, fixated on chemistry, but there was “certainly no evidence that strongly indicated this was necessarily going to lead to him massacre people with the use of chemicals”.
He told the court it was his professional opinion the man’s “horrific fantasies” in his diaries were a form of “self-soothing” his anger and grievance about being unable to form social connections.
“(He was) Angry and upset at the world for the way he feels he’s been treated throughout the life,” Dr Davis said.
“We were far from anything untoward happening in terms of him deliberately trying to hurt anyone.”
Dr Davis said the man would require significant psychological assistance for years into the future, which the man’s barrister, Glenn Cooper, said had been put in place for his release.
Prosecutors called for the man to be placed on a community corrections order with required therapeutic treatment and judicial monitoring.
But Judge Douglas Trapnell said the young man had already spent far too long in prison and he did not think it was appropriate to impose additional punishment.
He said the man’s lawyers had tried “time and time again” to resolve the case and the Crown had “taken it out of my control by dithering around”.
“This young man has been languishing in protection for 677 days,” he said.
“This should have been settled ages ago.”
Instead he convicted and discharged the man, meaning he will face no other penalty and is expected to be released from custody.
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