Glenn Sanders held a friend captive and threatened to kidnap a local child just two days before Mr Sanders was killed in an explosion at his Derrinallum home in 2014.
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The revelations were made at the first day of a coronial inquest in Warrnambool into Mr Sanders’ death.
Evidence from Mr Sanders’ brother Andrew and long-time acquaintance Gary Poole painted a disturbing picture of Mr Sanders and his deteriorating mental health.
Mr Sanders, 48, died in the early hours of April 12, 2014, in an explosion at his property on the Hamilton Highway near Derrinallum 80km west of Ballarat following a lengthy stand-off with police.
The inquest heard evidence from Mr Poole, who detailed being held hostage by Mr Sanders on April 10 in a mechanic’s pit and sprayed with LPG.
According to Mr Poole and Mr Sanders’ brother, Mr Sanders was deeply paranoid. He worried that he was being watched by satellites, that his phone was tapped by ASIO and the CIA, that Indian scammers he referred to as “Bundies” were out to steal his property and money, and that the Derrinallum townsfolk had turned against him and accused him of being a paedophile.
Mr Sanders also spoke of being afraid that “men in white coats” were going to take him to the Warrnambool psychiatric ward known colloquially as Ward Nine.
Mr Poole said Mr Sanders invited him to the Sanders property to fix a broken pump, before asking for assistance with a car.
Once inside the mechanic’s pit under the car, Mr Sanders wedged a 40-gallon drum in place to block Mr Poole’s exit, before spraying him with LPG and asking him questions about why people were saying Mr Sanders was a paedophile and why the locals had turned against him.
Mr Poole told Mr Sanders he hadn’t heard anything, and managed to escape while Mr Sanders was making himself a drink.
Once out of the pit, Mr Poole confronted Mr Sanders. Mr Sanders apologised profusely for his actions and said “people weren’t telling him what was happening”.
“He said that if he couldn’t get answers he would take someone’s kid and make them hostage until the parents told him what he needed to know,” Mr Poole told the hearing.
Mr Poole and Andrew Sanders both told the court they were aware Glenn Sanders was often wearing a bra that he claimed was filled with explosives, with three detonation switches – one on his chest and two on his shoulders he could trigger with his head should his hands be tied. But both witnesses told the court there was initially some uncertainty as to whether the explosives were real or fake.
Coroner John Olle is presiding over the hearing, which is listed to run for five days.
The explosion that killed Mr Sanders also injured two police officers and destroyed Mr Sanders’ home.
The inquest is mandatory under Victorian law if “the deceased was, immediately before death, a person placed in custody”, according to the Coroners Act of 2008.
Mr Sanders’ death is understood to fit that requirement as it came at the end of a seven-hour stand-off during which police were attempting to take Mr Sanders into custody.
