Doomsday prepper fronts court for possessing an arsenal of weapons
A Doomsday prepper and former soldier who buried a large cache of guns in a secret lair on the outskirts of Melbourne has fronted court.
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A former Australian Army soldier and a wannabe commando who hid an arsenal of illegal weapons including machine guns on a farm in case he needed to survive in the event of an “apocalypse” has been jailed.
Aleziah Spiers, 30, pleaded guilty in the County Court last week to charges of possessing a traffickable quantity of firearms, possession of an imitation firearm, possession of a prohibited weapon without an exemption/approval, possess body armour without an exemption/approval, possession of multiple cartridges of ammunition.
On Monday he was sentenced to two years and four months in prison on the lead charge of possessing a traffikable quantity of firearms and fined $2800 on other charges.
Spiers chose a ‘survivalist’ lifestyle that actively involved acquiring resources and/or skills in preparation of an “apocalyptic or world-wide catastrophic events”.
His former partner and the man she formed a relationship with blew Spiers’ cover, telling Kyneton police they believed Spiers had stored a significant volume of firearms at the Clarkfield property.
Spiers illegally stockpiled 16 firearms and the haul included a selection of machine guns, rifles, semi-automatic handguns and firearms parts. They were discovered under floorboards and in an old shearing shed on the farm in Clarkfield.
The farm was owned by his then partner’s father Robert Scott.
Police located a gun safe and about 4kg of potassium nitrate and sulphur powder,
and a smokeless black powder being chemicals combined to manufacture explosives, in a shipping container on July 2, 2022.
Spiers was arrested at a laundromat that day and a search of his property located a military helmet, a ballistic panel for a ballistic vest and a belt with a gun holster.
Judge Michael Tinney said although Spiers has not had an previous conviction, pleaded guilty and his prospects of rehabilitation were favourable, his offending was serious.
Spiers was discharged from the Australian Army in 2014 for using cannabis and sacked as a youth justice worker.
Judge Tinney said Spiers fantasies about apocalypse was due to his inability to fulfil careers in the Army and the Australian Federal Police and his failures in life.
His continued adherence to these distorted views of the world should not be accompanied by possession of illegal weapons, the judge said.
During his ‘survivalists’ network and Sunday classes, the Spiers formed a friendship with a man, who, in 2020, brought large amounts of firearms and firearm-related items to the Clarkefield property and gave them to Spiers.
During an interview at the Melbourne West police complex, Spiers — who has never held a firearms licence — denied firing any of the firearms but said he would know how to if he sat down with one and looked at it.
Spiers will serve a minimum of 15 months in jail before being eligible for parole.
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