Belinda Pulver, left, and her husband Bill Pulver, mother and father of collar bomb hoax victim Madeleine Pulver, arrive at New South Wales state District Court in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 . The Pulvers were at the court for the sentencing of Paul Douglas Peters the hoax collar bomber. Peters, the 51-year-old faces up to 20 years in prison for tethering a bomb-like device to the neck of then-18-year-old Madeleine Pulver in August 2011 while she was alone in her family's Sydney mansion. In March, he pleaded guilty to aggravated break and enter and committing a serious indictable offense. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
October 19, 2012 - 1:18 AM
SYDNEY - An Australian investment banker who admitted chaining a fake bomb to a teenager drank heavily and went through wild mood swings in the years before the bizarre extortion attempt, his ex-wife said Friday at his sentencing hearing.
But Deborah Peters testified that she has no idea why Paul Douglas Peters committed the crime. "I don't know if even Paul knows why he did it," she said.
The 51-year-old faces up to 20 years in prison for tethering a bomb-like device to the neck of then-18-year-old Madeleine Pulver in August 2011 while she was alone in her family's Sydney mansion. In March, he pleaded guilty to aggravated break and enter and committing a serious indictable offence.
It took a bomb squad 10 hours to remove the device, but it contained no explosives and Pulver was not injured. Peters, who wore a ski mask and wielded a baseball bat in the attack, left an email address on his ransom note that helped authorities track him down.
Peters, who travelled frequently between the United States and Australia on business, fled to the U.S. and was arrested nearly two weeks later at the Louisville, Kentucky, home of his former wife, Deborah Peters. He was extradited to Australia and has remained in prison since.
Deborah Peters wept in New South Wales state District Court on Friday as she described how her then-husband's behaviour began to change in 2000.
"Paul started to disconnect," she told the court. "I didn't know who was going to walk through the door. ... One minute he'd be OK; the next minute he'd be upset or angry."
The mood swings coincided with his attempt to write a book, she said. She said that initially it was meant to be about a man who finds a key and looks for treasure, but it ended up being much darker, about a villain who kidnapped someone and addicted the victim to drugs.
Peters was determined to finish the book and was spending hours in the basement working on it, she said. She said he also began drinking more: up to two bottles of wine and two large gin and tonics with dinner every night.
Deborah Peters testified that she divorced her husband in 2007, after he refused her pleas to get help, but they stayed in contact.
Paul Peters, wearing a suit and looking thinner than he did at the time of his arrest, nodded briefly in the direction of his victim's parents, Bill and Belinda Pulver, who sat in the front row of the public gallery. Bill Pulver stared back at him, stone-faced.
Why Peters targeted the wealthy Pulver family has yet to be explained. U.S. court documents show Peters once worked for a company with links to Bill Pulver, but the family has repeatedly said they don't know him and remain confused as to why Madeleine was attacked.
The hearing could continue for several days.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012