Man and woman charged after extensive investigation into ‘car bombing, threats, intimidation’

It began with the simple beeping of the car horn in a McDonald’s drive-through and ended with a car bombing that could have been deadly. On Tuesday afternoon police charged a man and woman from Illawarra over the alleged crime.

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It began with the simple beeping of the car horn in a McDonald’s drive-through and ended with a car bombing that could have been deadly, police say.

After an alleged two-week campaign of intimidation against the woman who tooted the horn to avoid an accident, a man, 33, and woman, 31, were arrested and charged by the Public Order and Riot Squad on Tuesday.

Superintendent Michael McLean said it was an act of grievance-fuelled violence over a “minor” altercation which could have ended with someone killed or seriously injured.

The man was arrested Tuesday morning after stopping for petrol at the BP Service Station in Warrawong.

The couple have now been charged. Picture: NSW Police

Detectives from Lake Illawarra Police Area Command, who established Strike Force Cleary to investigate the initial reports of harassment and intimidation, called in the elite Fixated Persons Investigations Unit after the alleged victim’s Ford Ranger was blown up in the driveway of her Koonawarra home.

The man was arrested at a BP service station at Warrawang near Wollongong as he drove to work at 6am on Tuesday.

He was taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station and charged with two counts of use carriage service to threaten serious harm, two counts of stalk or intimidate intend fear physical harm, use carriage service to threaten to kill, destroy or damage property, place explosive in or near vehicle with intent cause harm, threaten or cause injury to person for being witness and two counts of possess or use prohibited weapon without permit.

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He was refused bail to appear at Wollongong Local Court tomorrow, April 3.

The woman was arrested at the couple’s Lake Heights home after taking her children to school.

She was taken to Wollongong Police Station and charged with accessory after the fact to destroy or damage property and stalk or intimidate intend fear physical harm.

She was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Wollongong Local Court on May 22.

The accused woman was arrested after dropping her kids off at school.

Strike force investigators, assisted by the Public Order and Riot Squad and Lake Illawarra Police District, also executed a search warrant at a Lake Heights home and located a pipe bomb, rendered safe by specialist officers from the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit.

Investigators also seized an electronic control device, numerous electronic storage devices, a computer, a laptop, and mobile phones.

Police allege after the victim in the Ford Ranger sounded her horn at Warrawang McDonalds on February 22, she was followed from the car park by the 31-year-old woman who noted the registration number and reported the incident to police, claiming the other driver was in the wrong.

Police say the alleged car bomb was a “sophisticated” IED.

Police say the alleged victims were in their Ford Ranger when they sounded the horn to stop another car from reversing into them on February 22.

The next day, it is alleged the windows of the Ford Ranger were smashed as the woman and her partner allegedly tracked down the victim through social media and began a barrage of threatening calls and emails.

In the early hours of March 5, neighbours in Koola Place, Koonawarra, were rocked when a “sophisticated” improvised explosive devices (IED) blew up the Ford Ranger in the driveway of the victim’s home.

“This was an (alleged) act of grievance-fuelled violence,” Supt McLean, of the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command, said.

Police also recovered a taser device.

It is alleged that the woman and her partner, 33, tracked down the victim through social media.

“(It) became quite a dangerous series of events that could have led to the loss of life and injury.”

He said the Fixated Persons Investigation Unit was set up to investigate these kinds of acts.

During the investigation, detectives became aware of death threats allegedly made by the man over the phone to a relative of an employee of an electronics store over an unrelated dispute.

In the man’s vehicle, police allegedly found an extendible baton, a drone, and various documents and at the couple’s home, they seized a taser-like device, computer, laptop and mobile phones.

The woman was taken to Wollongong Police Station.

A second search warrant was also executed at a Lurnea home, where investigators seized further items consistent with the construction of improvised explosive devices (IED).

Investigations are continuing.

The Fixated Persons Investigations Unit, made up of detectives and mental health workers, was set up by Police Commissioner Mick Fuller to target lone-wolf terrorists or other fixated individuals.