A SCHOOL teacher accused of terrorist activities will face a committal hearing in Brisbane in November. John Howard Amundsen, 40, of Aspley in Brisbane's north, is facing charges of using false documents to obtain explosives and preparing to commit an act of terrorism. He also is charged with using telecommunications to make a threat and a hoax threat, as well as possessing a foreign passport without reasonable excuse, making counterfeit money or counterfeit securities and fraud. It is alleged Amundsen was found with 53kg of explosives when police raided his home earlier this year, and he is the first Queenslander to be charged under the new national terrorism laws. Today in a review of the case in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, Chief Magistrate Marshall Irwin set the committal hearing down for three weeks, beginning November 13. Commonwealth prosecutor Clive Porritt said federal police had already compiled 195 witness statements and there were more than 25 still to come. Mr Porritt said the brief of evidence would be available in four weeks.
Amundsen's solicitor Brendan Ryan said his client was preoccupied with being in jail, and that a bail application may be pending at some stage in the Supreme Court. "I know my client's in custody, he reminds me of that fact often," Mr Ryan said. "But I can't do anything about that situation until I'm better armed with the police brief, then I might be able to do something about his requests." Mr Irwin set down a further brief review for August 18 and said they would try to do it by video link to save Amundsen being brought in.