Maryborough’s Jarrod Kervarec charged over Ballarat bomb hoax

A Maryborough man allegedly told a university lecturer he was going to “kill them all” before threatening to blow up his university.

A man has been charged after an alleged bomb hoax in Ballarat.

A Maryborough man who allegedly threatened to blow up a Ballarat university has been bailed.

James Kervarec was released from police custody after he appeared in Ballarat Magistrates’ Court in a successful bail hearing on Thursday.

He is facing charges including bomb hoax, threatening to damage property and threats to kill.

Police informant Scott Howard told the court prosecutors will allege the 35-year-old approached a lecturer at Federation University’s Grant St campus on November 18 and made a series of threats.

“I’m going to kill them all, I’m going to murder them all, I’m going to get all these motherf******,” Kervarec is alleged to have said.

The police witness thought the accused was communicating with someone else through a Bluetooth device.

It’s alleged Kervarec told the man he had a trigger in his pocket and that his backpack contained enough Semtex to blow up a 300m radius said he also had a .22 gauge shotgun to use if anyone survived a blast.

He then turned around and said “you have a good day now”.

The alleged incident forced the university to be shut down for about two hours, the court heard.

Police arrested Kervarec at his Maryborough home earlier this week where he was taken into custody.

Police seized items of clothing which they allege Kervarec can be seen wearing on CCTV obtained from the university.

Kervarec’s mother viewed the footage and confirmed the identity of the person in question to be her son.

Madeline Ryan, for Kervarec, told the court her client had a “significant history” of psychiatric illness.

She said being in custody was “difficult” and “terrifying” for Kervarec.

It was also heard Kervarec lived alone in his Maryborough house.

As part of his bail conditions, he can’t attend any universities in the Ballarat area.

The matter will return to court at a later date.

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