John Howard Amundsen (born 1966) was the firstQueenslander to be charged undernational anti-terrorist laws inAustralia.[1] These charges were later dropped.[2]
Amundsen has no children and lived with his mother in theirAspley home prior to his arrest.[3][4] He was a teacher atFerny Grove State High School and taught the subjects ofmanual arts, media and business.[3][5] He had a previous career as a spokesman forBrisbane Airport.[6]
After being assessed by apsychologist, he was found to haveautism spectrum disorder.[7] A report stated he often retreated into fantasy worlds, had trouble thinking rationally, lackedsocial skills, and neededpsychotherapy to assist his issues withanxiety anddepression.[7]
Amundsen gained notoriety in May 2006, after a stockpile ofexplosives anddetonators 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 aspolice withsniffer 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 wascharged with fraudulently obtaining 53kg of the explosive substance Powergel.[9][1][10] He was subsequently charged with preparing aterrorist act, as well as two counts of making a threat and making ahoax threat.[9] Amundsen was held at theArthur Gorrie Correctional Centre inWacol.[11]
In February 2007, the charges of terrorism and making a hoax threat were dropped but replaced with new charges of possessingincendiary devices and havingdangerous 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 onparole in May 2009.[6][10]
In February 2010, Amundsen was charged withstalking after the alleged victim found aGPS 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-yearrestraining order from his victim and her daughters.[14] Amundsen toldjurors that they had "failed a good, decent,Christian man" after they handed down the guilty verdict.[15] Amundsen believed the case against him was afeminist plot.[15]