A self-published author who kept an arsenal at his Canberra property purportedly because of "mind control" has been released from prison eight months after his arrest.
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Andrew Seefeldt fronted the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday. The 31-year-old previously pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including nine weapons offences.
Justice John Burns said Seefeldt came to the attention of police in November 2018, when he contacted various "institutions" with details of "explosives tests" he'd conducted as well of pictures of himself holding and making weapons.
On March 18 this year, while Seefeldt was under police supervision, the author was spotted at Civic library talking to someone about constructing a firearm and an explosive detonator.
He was arrested on March 19, when police found fireworks in his backpack, and he admitted to having a number of gel blasters but said he was the subject of "mind control and satanic abuse".
Police later raided his Canberra home, where they found 10 replica guns capable of shooting paintballs, three non-operational imitation firearms, eight individual .22 live rounds of ammunition, a homemade conducted electrical weapon, knuckle dusters, two knives, a crossbow, and equipment to make false identification, including a printing press and NSW driver's licence holograms.
Police also found instructions written by Seefeldt on how to make firearms.
Justice Burns said Seefeldt hadn't intended to harm or frighten anyone with the arsenal - he told police he only got it to satisfy his mind control compulsion - but someone could have stolen the items and used them for nefarious purposes.
Seefeldt authored a booked called Australia's darkest secrets: Ritual abuse, mind-control and gang-stalking exposed, which - according to its synopsis - includes a recount of how Seefeldt spent his "teenage years hacking computers, manufacturing high explosives and smuggling a machine gun".
The synopsis also says the book explains "becoming an amphetamine chemist by age 21", and how "an outlandish and terrifying conspiracy tried to muscle in on my drug lab".
The judge said Seefeldt, who has schizophrenia and schizoid personality disorder, told police he didn't realise some of the items they found were illegal because they were readily available on eBay.
He said Seefeldt's mental illnesses meant his moral culpability for the 12 offences was significantly reduced, given he would not have committed them if it weren't for his illnesses.
Justice Burns sentenced Seefeldt to a total 13 months in prison, suspended from Thursday upon him entering into an 18-month good behaviour order.
Seefeldt had already served more than eight months in jail, having been arrested and remanded in custody on March 19.
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