Savas Avan, 50 appeared in Shepparton Country Court yesterday after pleading guilty to one charge of sending a dangerous article via the post.
Avan was arrested at his Shepparton home on January 10 last year, after it was discovered the accused had sent 52 parcels from local post offices, causing emergency responses and lock downs of embassies and consulates across Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.
Throughout the hearing, the court heard Avan was experiencing drug induced psychosis, caused by cannabinoids, in which he believed sending the packages to specific countries could assists with their firefighting abilities.
Judge Michael McInerney acknowledged the lack of "malicious intent", but said he needed to consider the distress and concern the packages raised at the embassies and consulates.
Acknowledging the mental health diagnosis at the time of offending and the fact the accused had spent time in a mental health unit during his remand period, Judge McInerney also considered the testimony from Avan's friend and former wife, who vouched for his "unblemished behaviour."
“I am indeed satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that at the time of this crime, Mr Avan was suffering a psychiatric reaction to cannabinoids,” he said.
“I find that Mr Avan was not aware that such drug use, could cause the psychosis and the degree of psychosis of which he suffered at that time, nor that it could impact upon his rationality or that it could it affect to the degree that it clearly has his ability to control his actions.”
Judge McInerney also considered Avan's early guilty plea, a lack of relevant prior criminal history and his history of hard work within the community.
“I am confident upon the matter put to me that clearly you have been a hard working person and have never been involved in criminality of this type.”
Avan was sentence to a year imprisonment, minus the 240 days in custody already served.
He was also placed on a three year good behaviour bond to begin after his release.
For two of those years on the bond, the accused was given a number of conditions to be monitored by the Department of Justice including drug rehabilitation, psychological assessments and treatments, no further offending, no drug taking unless otherwise prescribed and random urine testing.
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