July 07, 2008

Bottle-bombs exploded 'with the noise of gunfire'

Dry ice bottle bombs left around Christchurch went off with as much noise as the 105mm artillery pieces used by the army, the crown said as the trial of one of the accused bombers began.

Crown prosecutor Kathy Bell told Judge David Saunders and a Christchurch District Court jury that the bombs ? made from dry ice and water placed inside plastic soft drink bottles ? could explode with a noise of more than 140 decibels.

The noise will be an issue at the trial because the crown says a man who was handling one of the bottles when it exploded has been left with a permanent hearing disability.

Two of those charged over the placing of the series of bombs around Christchurch on August 17 last year have already pleaded guilty.

The third accused, Scott James Wreford Kelly, 26, unemployed, denied five charges as his week-long trial began today.

He denies four charges of placing devices that were likely to injure people, with reckless disregard for safety at Northlands Mall in Papanui, The Palms shopping centre in Shirley, a service station at Carlton Corner, in a rubbish bin in Colombo Street, and in the central Christchurch Bus Exchange.

He also denied a charge of injuring a worker at the Bus Exchange with reckless disregard for safety.

Miss Bell detailed how four of the bombs had been placed around Christchurch and one left at the Bus Exchange where a cleaner picked it up and went to dispose of the bottle.

?It exploded in his hands causing cuts, bruising, and swelling to his hand, and the sound of it damaged his hearing. He suffers permanent disability as a result. The Bus Exchange was evacuated and the surrounding area was cordoned off, closing several city streets,? she said.

She referred to text messages recorded from Kelly?s cellphone talking about ?driving around dropping bombs off?, and ?Watch the 6pm news. The Bus Exchange in Christchurch got bombed. They say it was a Coke bottle but it was Fanta.?

Evidence was read from two employees at BOC Gases in Sockburn, who saw a man from a white Holden buy 2kg of dry ice there about 12.15pm on August 17. He used an eft-pos card and the transaction details were later given to the police. One employee had noted the registration number of the car.

Rikki Allan McKernan, who said he was a friend of both Kelly and a man who has already pleaded guilty to the bottle-bomb charges, Raymond Gary Coombs, said the pair came to his house and he went with them to BOC. He was making a smoke machine and wanted to try it out using dry ice. He left some of the dry ice with the other two when they dropped him at home.

Mr McKernan said he?later received a text from Kelly?s cellphone, discussing the bomb scares around Christchurch.

A man travelling past Northlands Mall said 20 to 30 people, including school children, were outside the south entrance when there was a loud, sharp explosion like a thunderflash pyrotechnic used in the army. He then saw a white Holden drive out of the carpark and right over the median island in the Main North Road.

An employee at the Carlton Shell service station told of several bunches of flowers being destroyed by an explosion in a holder outside the shop. He found a shattered 1.5 litre Coke bottle nearby. A white car had driven off shortly before the blast.