Store owner Adeel Khan charged in hospital over fatal Rozelle explosion
ADEEL Khan knew people, including baby Jude O’Brien, were asleep above his shop when he set up an intricate petrol bomb, detectives will allege.
ADEEL Khan knew people, including baby Jude O’Brien, were asleep above his shop when he set up an intricate petrol bomb, detectives will allege.
Even a small fire would have blocked their only exit via the rear driveway behind Darling Street.
But according to the police facts sheet tendered in court yesterday, Khan showed a “disregard for human life” in his alleged plan to set the store on fire in what was supposed to be a $225,000 insurance rort.
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At 9.30pm on September 4, the night before his Rozelle convenience store exploded, he had even served Jude’s dad, John O’Brien, in the shop.
But that night, instead of going home to Greenacre, Khan allegedly laid out plastic petrol containers full of almost 39 litres of fuel throughout his store, office and storeroom area. They were arranged in a “complex and elaborate” system linked together with wicks, lengths of material and a rechargeable Vision Brand 6V battery, police allege in the statement of facts.
There were also a number of AA batteries stuck together and joined to the larger battery by lengths of wire, it is alleged. It is alleged the device was set up as a means of creating an ignition or possible time delay for ignition. It is alleged Khan planned the fire because he owed money.
He has been charged with 25 offences including murdering Bianka O’Brien, her 11-month-old son Jude and their neighbour Chris Noble.
He was under police guard at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital last night after being refused bail by Magistrate Robbie Williams in a court hearing at his bedside where he is being treated for a fractured pelvis and cuts to his head which he sustained in the blast.
Detectives had told the families of the victims that the man who used to serve them in his family-run shop had been charged with their murders.
“They are appreciative and they are grateful for the police efforts and the police investigation,” Detective Superintendent Murray Chapman, commander of State Crime Command’s Property Crime Squad, said.
“This has been a complex, tedious and exhaustive investigation.”
Khan, 44, was charged with three counts of murder, three counts of manslaughter and two counts of the attempted murder of Mr Noble’s flatmates, Todd Fisher and Corey Cameron — the only ones to escape.
He also faces 17 charges relating to the damage of property, including one count of setting fire for a financial gain. He told police that he had been held captive in the shop’s storeroom by three robbers who poured petrol but there is no trace of them on CCTV footage, police allege.
By the time the petrol containers had been laid out, even a minimal spark would have been enough to ignite the vapours and cause the explosion, police also allege.
When Khan was pulled from the wreckage at around 4am, a cigarette lighter was nearby and he repeatedly told paramedics: “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it, I’m so sorry”, the court documents allege.
In his trouser pocket was a carbon fibre breathing mask.
Police allege he owed $8000 in rent, which he had told the real estate agent he intended to pay on September 4, the day of the explosion.
AGL had threatened to cut off electricity over arrears of $3435 and Khan still owed over $5400 to another electricity company.
The Rozelle store, which he took over in December, was in competition with a larger IGA supermarket and a number of speciality outlets. In February and May, he had increased his insurance with insurer Allianz to $225,000, it is alleged.
On September 1, CCTV cameras caught him filling up the plastic containers at a BP service station in Croydon Park.
“It is the belief of police that the accused intentionally set about to destroy his business by fire,” police have alleged in a statement of facts.
“The accused acted to cause the explosion and subsequent fire during the early hours of the morning when it could only be expected that the above residents would be home and at their most vulnerable while asleep.
“The accused would have been familiar with the layout of the properties and aware that the only entry and exit was via the rear driveway.”
Khan was remanded in custody to appear at Central Local Court on October 21.
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