Nathan Jacob Sykes said he felt in "extreme danger" after another man made a "throat-slitting gesture" at him, called him a Nazi and flooded his Sydney bedroom by putting a fire hose through the window.
The 53-year-old has pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to threaten serious harm to freelance investigative journalist Luke McMahon and to using it to menace/harass/offend in January 2018.
Sykes, who was charged in March 2019, gave evidence via video link at his sentence hearing in the NSW District Court on Thursday.
He developed an interest in politics around 2004 "when I realised all the rhetoric surrounding the invasion of Iraq, and Australia's immigration policy, was false".
In 2014, he became involved in the Australia First Party and its leader Jim Saleam, also writing social media articles.
His barrister Deone Provera asked him to describe the party's position on the political spectrum - centrist, left wing or right wing.
"It's neither, it's first edition," Sykes replied.
He said in September 2017, after the publication of a newspaper article, he noticed a large man seemingly "wandering around lost" outside his ground-floor Enmore flat.
When he asked if he was looking for someone, "the man made a throat-slitting gesture", which he understood to be a threat on his life.
The man yelled things like "you are a Nazi and a pedophile" and "you are going to die".
Sykes said he reported the incident to police who advised him to install CCTV which he did.
One morning in December 2017 he woke up to screaming and flooding caused by a fire hose placed through his bedroom window by the same man.
He feared he would be electrocuted as he had power boards and wiring on the floor.
He launched a social media campaign to identify the man from the CCTV footage and discovered he belonged to a far left extremist anti-fascist group and was a member of the CFMEU.
But despite giving police the information, nothing was done.
Sykes referred to personal protection orders obtained against him, as well as one he obtained which he believed was breached.
In the period from October 2017 to March 2018, Sykes said he had a heavy workload for a Bachelor of Communications degree, had poor security at his flat and suffered from panic attacks.
He tried to medicate with alcohol but at the time believed he was in extreme danger.
"Do you have any memory of making those calls?" Mr Provera asked.
"I don't," he replied.
Asked if he would be involved again in anything like the offences before the court, Sykes replied: "I have no intention of ever falling into that trap".
He was now on medication for his anxiety.
Judge Gina O'Rourke adjourned the case to March 3, when Sykes will be cross-examined and Mr Saleam is expected to give evidence on his behalf.
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