Adelaide man who made Mother of Satan explosives eligible for parole within months

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An Adelaide man with anti-Islamic and patriotstyle ideologies who took steps to manufacture an explosive called Mother of Satan will be eligible for parole within months. Aaron Ellis was sentenced in the South Australian District Court to three years and three months jail with a non-parole period of one year and seven months, backdated to his arrest in April 2019. He will be eligible for parole on November 25.

The 45 year old pleaded guilty to taking steps to make an explosive device and having instructions on how to do so under suspicious circumstances. Prosecutors withdrew more serious charges in December.

Police raided Ellis's Davoren Park home and conducted controlled detonations of the highly volatile substances in his backyard. Officers also found pipe bombs, a shrapnel reel, shot gun pallets and 102 documents about explosives, weapons, and poisons at his house. Ellis was also in possession of the manifesto of the Christchurch mass shooter, who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand in March 2019.

Judge Rauf Soulio said Ellis told his psychologist that comments he made in support of the Christchurch terrorist were made in jest.You said you had been drawn into an online community that supported anti-Islamic views and became blinded by propaganda online. You acknowledge having made racist comments and sharing racist images and memes.

Judge Soulio rejected Ellis's submissions that he had the substances known as Mother of Satan to make firecrackers as entertainment. But he said Ellis had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after a car accident and was depressed at the time of his arrest in April 2019. He imposed a shorter non-parole period because of those health issues and said Ellis would benefit from supervision while on parole. After Judge Soulio handed down his sentence, he urged Ellis to think about changing his anti-Islamic beliefs while on parole.