Karl Arnold Davey claims improvised explosives found at his Perth Hills home were for ‘rabbit pest control’

A 42-year-old man found with improvised grenades at his Perth Hills home and suspected of being part of the sovereign citizen movement insists the devices were for “pest control”. Karl Arnold Davey came to the attention of police in November when he was allegedly pulled over in an unregistered vehicle and had a throwing knife and dagger inside. He was consequently deemed no longer a fit and proper person to possess firearms, and had his High Wycombe home dramatically raided on Friday after he failed to surrender the guns, Armadale Courthouse was told on Monday. As his parents watched on from the public gallery, Mr Davey appeared via videolink from Hakea Prison and interrupted multiple times. The police prosecutor said officers found 10 improvised explosive devices, prohibited weapons including a Taser, improperly stored firearms, a large amount of ammunition, magic mushrooms and a gun-mounted laser pointer. While he has not yet been served with a data access order, Mr Davey refused to help police access his electronic devices, the prosecutor said. What they had seen suggested “links to an organisation aligned to a sovereign citizen movement”, the policeman said. “His refusal to provide access is part of the overall complexion that gives me concerns that there may be something going on here,” Magistrate Gavin MacLean said. The magistrate was shown photographs from around the property. “A syringe, orange tubes. . . I’m just not sure what these items are supposed to be,” he said. The court was told that the IEDs were made using nitrous oxide canisters and miniature bottles, with batteries and toggle switches attached. But Mr Davey’s duty lawyer said they were for dropping down rabbit warrens at a farm. “Everything is for pest control,” the accused interjected. He said a knife found during the raid was a traditional artefact and “family heirloom” he’d had since age 14, while a cache of shotgun shells was “inherited” from someone else. The police prosecutor flagged potential further charges, adding the firearms were stored “in all sorts of manners across the house”. Among bail conditions proposed were Mr Davey living with his parents in Margaret River, not possessing any items capable of being used to manufacture IEDS, and not going near gun shops or shooting ranges. But the magistrate was not convinced. He said he could not reach the conclusion that it was all “some sort of McGyver-like situation gone wrong”. “I must say I’m left with a bit of a mystery as to what this is all about,” Mr MacLean said. Mr Davey had been found with a “serious combination of drugs and weapons”, he said, noting recent similar worrying arrests in and around Perth. The magistrate said the earlier knife charges, which he had not yet pleaded to, “further compound my sense of suspicion or caution about what was happening in Mr Davey’s home”. “Community protection is a paramount consideration,” Mr MacLean said. Mr Davey hung his head as bail was refused. He will next front court on all 22 charges he faces on April 20.