By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A MAN has pleaded guilty to exploding “sparkler bombs” in a Narre Warren South park on a summer’s night as well as possessing a horse tranquiliser and a trafficable quantity of ecstacy.
The 19-year-old and three cohorts assembled four bombs from sparklers, tape and butane containers to explode in a park at Oakgrove Drive about 10.30pm on 8 January.
The bombs were set near a park bench about 50 metres from a community centre, police prosecutor Senior Constable Tess Davison told a court on 9 November.
The accused lit the devices with a cigarette lighter and walked from the area to meet his friends in the car park.
Witnesses told police they heard the group laughing as they waited for the bombs to detonate.
They later saw a glow, and heard one of the males say: “I’m scared it may not work out.”
An explosion was later heard. The scene was attended by CFA just after midnight.
The accused later told police that “we’re guys, we like explosions”.
“Someone could have been hurt if they walked past but no-one was around,” he told a police interview.
Two of the accomplices were suspended as volunteers at Narre Warren and Noble Park CFA brigades. All three cohorts were placed in diversion programs.
On 26 June, police seized the illicit hallucogen ketamine, about 100 tablets and capsules of ecstacy in several bags and $460 cash in $20 notes from the accused’s bedroom.
The man said the ketamine was for personal use and he had been selling the ecstacy tablets at nightclubs for a short period.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said he wouldn’t normally put a drug trafficker on a good behaviour bond.
Mr Vandersteen took into account the age of the accused, lack of prior convictions, positive engagement with youth drug support agency YSAS, co-operation with police and dissociation with former bad influences.
“There’s nothing else you could do in response to this incident.”
He said the bombs were dangerous, and group members were right to be nervous when they didn’t initially detonate.
“What happens if they don’t go off? You’ve left it in a public park – an explosive device with possible shrapnel and fire issues.”
The magistrate noted the particular dangers of ketamine, that it put horses to sleep and suppressed the respiratory system in humans.
“You’re a fool putting it in your body. A lot of people who take it don’t wake up in the morning.”
The man’s 12-month good behaviour bond was on condition that he continued to engage with YSAS.
