The Paul Peters collar-bomb story
As Paul Peters awaits today's sentencing for placing a hoax collar-bomb around Sydney teen Madeleine Pulver's neck, we take a look back at events
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Is he a sad and deluded man with little control over his actions, or a manipulative extortionist responsible for a carefully calculated crime?
This is the question facing District Court Judge Peter Zahra as he sentences Sydney's so-called "hoax collar bomber" Paul Douglas Peters.
Peters' crime, carried out 15 months ago in the leafy, lower north shore suburb of Mosman, is one of the more bizarre and brazen in Sydney's recent history.
Sentenced today ... "hoax collar bomber" Paul Douglas Peters. Photo: Reuters
Wearing a bright, rainbow-coloured balaclava, the then 50-year-old walked into the $12 million home of 18-year-old schoolgirl Madeleine Pulver and tied a black metal box around her neck with a bike chain.
Attached was an extortion note claiming that the box contained sophisticated plastic explosives, and threatening Ms Pulver and her family with a "tragically avoidable explosion" if they failed to send "funds" to a supplied email address.
It took 10 hours for police to be certain that the bomb was a fake, by which time Ms Pulver had been badly traumatised and others sent into a state of near-hysteria.
Victim ... Madeleine Pulver. Photo: Ben Rushton
State and federal police launched a major investigation, which led them within days to Louisville, Kentucky, where Peters was arrested on August 15.
After initially denying any involvement with the crime, Peters pleaded guilty to aggravated break-and-enter and detaining for advantage in March this year, much to the relief of his teenage victim and her parents, Bill and Belinda Pulver.
It emerged that Peters had become obsessed with a science fiction book he was writing – a dystopic novel that included the kidnapping of a young girl by a black-hearted protagonist.
Parents Bill and Belinda Pulver. Photo: Ben Rushton
During three recent sentencing hearings, Peters' lawyers argued that, affected by bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and depression brought on by the loss of his job and his marriage, he had committed the crime under the delusion that he was the central character in his novel.
But the prosecution painted a very different picture.
Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC, said Peters had been angry at losing his wealth and status and had decided to "get it all back in one go".
She said Peters had come to Sydney from his home in Kentucky intending to extort money from the beneficiary of a large trust fund – the James M. Cox trust.
He had abandoned this target when he stumbled across a prominent Sydney businessman who lived on the same battle-axe block as the Pulvers.
According to the Crown, it was a simple mistake that led Peters to the Pulvers' door – he had mistaken the Pulvers' house for that of his intended target.
Sentencing Judge Peter Zahra has indicated a degree of scepticism towards Peters' claims of delusion, telling the court in one hearing that he believed the crime was calculated and carried out with precision.
Today, he will rule on whether Peters' August 2011 extortion attempt was the bizarre act of a sick man – in which case he may avoid further jail time completely – or a calculated attack by an angry individual, a finding that would see him locked up for a very long time.
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