By Ray Sparvell
A 29-year-old Aveley man, charged over a pipe bomb and weapons scare at Royal Perth Hospital, has also been convicted of online child sex crimes in a police sting.
On Friday Aaron Lee Priemer was remanded to appear in Perth's Magistrates Court on October 16 over a home-made bomb that shut down three floors of RPH for several hours that day.
On the same day he was also sentenced to 18 months jail on Friday morning in the District Court on 11 counts of online child sex crimes.
It took six years for this case to reach court and the presiding judge noted a criticism of a "gross oversight" by investigating detectives that contributed to the delay.
Parts of Royal Perth Hospital were evacuated in the bomb scare.Credit: James Mooney
Priemer pleaded guilty to the following charges on June 5: six counts of exposing a person that he believed to be under the age of 16 years to indecent matter; and five charges of being an adult, using electronic communication with intent to procure a person that he believed to be under the age of 16 years to engage in sexual activity.
Priemer believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl who was an undercover police officer.
The offences occurred in 2009 and Judge Gillan Braddock noted that the delay in his arrest and charges were due to a "gross oversight" by the detectives tasked with investigating the matter.
She sentenced Priemer to 18 months jail and made him eligible for parole after nine months.
Priemer also appeared in Perth's Magistrates Court on eight charges relating to the alleged discovery of weapons, ammunition and an improvised explosive device in an incident at RPH on Thursday.
He was remanded in custody for six weeks.
Police were called to the hospital at about 9.45am on Thursday after a nurse found a bag in a ward on the eighth floor that allegedly contained two loaded and sawn-off rifles.
Also found in the bag was a suspicious package, police said.
Acting Inspector Craig Davis of the Central Metropolitan District Office said it was a crudely made improvised explosive device, commonly known as a pipe bomb.
"It was inert, incapable of being detonated, but we are taking all precautions in handling and assessing the device," he said.
Bomb Squad and Tactical Response Group members were called to remove the bag and three floors of patients were evacuated.
Acting Inspector Davis said that the man had been visiting another at RPH and had left two suitcases and a backpack on a table in the patient's room.
Hospital staff had become concerned and discovered the weapons and device during a check of the bags.
The man had then visited his legal representatives at the Hay Street offices of high profile criminal lawyer Laura Timpano.
He left a backpack there while he attended court on another matter that was subsequently adjourned.
Police were called to Timpano's offices after concerns were raised about the backpack.
Shane Brennan, a top-floor tenant, said a suspicious-looking bag had been left on Ms Timpano's desk.
Ms Timpano represented former Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney during his 2012 acquittal on charges of killing his wife Corryn.
Mr Brennan said he'd heard the matter was linked to a suspicious package found two blocks away at RPH.
Police checked the bag, but it didn't contain anything suspicious.
Hospital patient Lisa Gorman arrived at RPH for a procedure at 12.30pm after fasting for two days, only to be turned away.
"They said no one can go up because of a suspicious package," she said.
The man was arrested when he returned to RPH around 2pm.
Priemer was refused bail and is due in the Perth Magistrates Court on September 4.
A 30-year-old man of no fixed address [the patient the Aveley man had allegedly been visiting] was released without charge pending further investigations.