Martin James Cooper: Truckie’s alleged ‘Gargasoulas’ threat to kill Frankston shoppers, blow up Carrum Downs police station
A Carrum Downs truckie who allegedly told police he was going to ‘do a Gargasoulas’ and run down Frankston shoppers and also allegedly threatened to blow up a cop shop has applied for bail.
South East
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A Carrum Downs truck driver who allegedly threatened to “do a Gargasoulas” and mow down shoppers in a Frankston mall has faced court.
Martin James Cooper also allegedly threatened to drive a truck into Carrum Downs police station and blow it up.
Mr Cooper faced Frankston Magistrates’ Court via video link on Thursday for a bail application on charges of threats to kill, but the case had to be stood down for legal arguments.
Carrum Downs Leading Senior Constable Steve Caple told the court police went to Mr Cooper’s home on May 13 this year after they were alerted by corrections to a phone call where he told them he had assaulted his mother.
When officers arrived Mr Cooper was in a highly agitated state and he said he had a gun, an axe and a knife.
He then allegedly said he would “drive through Frankston shopping centre” to kill innocent people.
When he was handcuffed he was taken to Frankston Hospital for a mental health assessment but did not require to be sectioned, so was released back into police custody.
He allegedly then told police he “wanted to blow up Carrum Downs police station” and he would “get a truck and drive it into the station”.
Then he allegedly repeated his first threat, saying he would “drive to Frankston and do what Gargasoulas did”.
He was referring to James Gargasoulas, who sped down Bourke St in January 2017, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
He was sentenced to life behind bars last year.
Sen-Constable Caple told the court he was extremely concerned about the alleged threats, especially because they were made in a calm, reasoned manner.
He said the alleged Frankston threat was the most worrying because he says Mr Cooper went into specifics about what Gargasoulas did and how he would replicate it.
He said Mr Cooper’s mother had not been assaulted and there were no weapons found at the house.
Mr Cooper was remanded in custody and has spent the last two months behind bars.
The court heard at the time he allegedly made the threats he was serving a community corrections order for an assault, and was also on bail for an alleged road rage attack on another truck driver.
Both the prosecution and the defence had originally set the bar for his bail at the high level of exceptional circumstances, but magistrate Julian Ayres said that was incorrect.
He said the lesser level of compelling reasons should be the threshold Mr Cooper needed to fulfil if he wanted to be released while he awaited a hearing.
The bail application was adjourned for legal discussions.
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