A doomsday survivalist caught with a “staggering” cache of illegal firearms and explosives stashed on a remote farm will be jailed, a court has been told.
Aleziah Tolkien Spiers, 30, appeared before the Victorian County Court on Wednesday, pleading guilty to offences including possessing a trafficable quantity of firearms.
The former soldier and Zombie-film actor was arrested in July last year after his ex-partner raised suspicions Spiers had concealed weapons on her father’s Clarkefield farm – about 40 km northwest of Melbourne.
Spiers, a self-described “survivalist”, has used the large property to run training workshops with a “large network” of doomsday preppers since moving in with her in 2016.
The court was told he presented himself as a leader within the community, teaching “specialist” techniques he claimed came from his army training.
Searching the property, police found firearms, large quantities of ammunition, other weapons and precursor materials used to manufacture explosives.
His barrister, Timothy Fitzpatrick, told the court a “like-minded” individual had asked Spiers if he could stash the firearms, which his client readily agreed.
“There were more firearms at the farm than my client knew … some have been excluded because police accepted he did not know,” he said.
Prosecutor Zoran Petric told the court Spiers had admitted to possessing, cleaning and maintaining 16 firearms – including automatic shotguns, rifles and machine guns.
“The accused chooses a survivalist lifestyle in preparation of apocalyptic and catastrophic events,” he said.
When interviewed by police, Spiers said he had agreed to store the firearms because; “the farm would be a good place to bug out in the event of an apocalypse-type scenario”.
Mr Fitzpatrick said his client now considered his “end-of-the-world fantasy” silly but conceded a jail term was “inevitable” because of the amount of weapons located.
He told the court many people choose to engage in the lifestyle without running into legal trouble and his client accepted he had committed a serious offence.
“Whilst on the surface one can look at Mr Spiers and draw a negative impression, but if you scratch beneath the surface there’s another character, someone willing to help others,” he said.
He told the court his client had been given an award for “considerable bravery” after rescuing a struggling woman from the surf in 2014 and assisted police in tracing the individual who provided the weapons.
“The cooperation he has made … results in further seizure of firearms,” he said.
“I understand they number in the 50s … there are no firearms from this horde that are unaccountable.”
Judge Michael Tinney questioned why Spiers’ bail conditions included a provision preventing him from engaging with the Proud Boys — a North American alt-right militant group — which Mr Fitzpatrick dismissed.
“He liked an article on Facebook,” he said.
“There was no association; he’s not interested in the Proud Boys or any alt-right organisation.”
Spiers turned to wave at supporters and blow kisses as he was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing next week.
