Man Pleads Guilty To St Kilda Festival Bomb Blasts

A 22-year-old man who detonated explosive charges at the St Kilda Festival in 2011 has pleaded guilty to eight charges, after causing injury to five people, two of whom were seriously injured.

Tone Deaf reports that Sam Aniello Castellano had set off two devices: the first went off at 3:20pm in the beer garden off the Esplanade at Luna Park, and the second occurred hours later near a temporary beer garden at Rotary Park.

Two men and two women were treated at the scene for injuries to their legs, while another man was treated for a small piece of metal embedded in his left hand.

A police explosives chemist says that the devices were made of an iron or steel container, or possibly a sparklet bulb that held an explosive charge.

Yesterday Castellano appeared in court charged with 18 offences. Prosecutor Simon Zebrowski told the court the matter had settled and that Castellano pleaded guilty to eight of the charges, including two charges of recklessly causing serious injury, reckless conduct endangering serious injury and possessing an explosive substance.

Castellano says he did not intend to hurt anyone, and it was just an act of stupidity.

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