A WOMAN accused of making numerous bomb threats via social media across Swan Hill in the past week has blamed someone else, a court has heard.
Less than an hour after allegedly threatening to blow up the BP service station on Campbell Street on November 4, Gale Tarrant reported the threat to Swan Hill police, saying she believed she knew who exactly was responsible for the terrifying posts.
Ms Tarrant was arrested and charged on Wednesday this week with five counts of making a bomb hoax.
She appeared in the Swan Hill Magistrates’ Court on Thursday before it was adjourned to Friday for a bail application.
The court heard the 32-year-old set up a Facebook page and posted on the Eyewatch – Swan Hill Police Service Area Facebook page that “this is not a joke…there is a bomb placed swan hill BP Campbell st swan hill. 10.35 if my needs are not met well I think we know what will happen.. 1 hour and counting.”
At 11.16am, the same message was posted on The Guardian newspaper’s Facebook page, before it escalated two minutes later to say “this is no f***ing joke time is ticking you want it to explode you have until 12 I mean alah business”.
An hour later the accused wrote “the bomb is ticking” and “but is that were the only bomb is” and “There’s more to come do you like big macs or hotels”.
The court heard due to the bomb threat, emergency services were called and the BP service station evacuated and Campbell Street closed. No explosive device was found.
Shortly after 12 noon on November 9, the accused set up an email address and Facebook username and posted on the Eyewatch page that last week’s threats were a test and today was real.
“This time is reall I have placed 3 bombs that will all detonate at the same time if you don’t take this serious there will be great disaster…”
Two days later, Ms Tarrant is accused of setting up another Facebook profile and linking it to a mobile number. She received a verification code from the social media giant to her mobile number. She posted on the Eyewatch page: “Today’s the day no more jokes see you at bp boom”.
Ms Tarrant then turned her attention to threatening to blow up Swan Hill Primary School. She posted to the Swan Hill Primary School Facebook page: “There are 3 places im not taken f***ing serious im sick of f***ing around swan hill let’s see who’s joking and laughing now swan hill primary, BP McDonald’s use are f***ed you think this is a joke its f***ing not I will be in contact with my demands times ticking c***”.
Informant Senior Constable Mike Niven said the school was evacuated, “forcing the vulnerable children to seek safety away from school, during a severe thunderstorm”.
Snr-Const Niven said police conducted a number of enquiries with Facebook Inc, who provided the registration details and linked Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
Ms Tarrant was arrested on Murlong Street, neat Swan Hill Primary School on November 11.
“The accused provided access to her mobile phone. An initial analysis of the accused’s mobile phone shows the Facebook verification text message that she received at 10.27am on November 11,” Snr-Const Niven said.
“Also on the accused’s mobile phone were a number of pictures of explosive devices, one of which was the same picture that was attached to threat made by a Facebook profile.”
A search warrant at the accused’s resident was also executed where police seized a laptop.
Snr-Const Niven opposed bail on the grounds Ms Tarrant was an unacceptable risk of further offending while on bail.
“Police do not believe that the accused was anything other than a willing participant in the offending, and was fully aware of the consequences of her actions,” he said in the summary.
He said given the nature of the offending, there were no bail conditions that could reasonably alleviate concerns of similar offending.
While being interviewed, Ms Tarrant denied any involvement in the bomb hoaxes, believing she knew who it was.
“Having been further interviewed and advised that she was going to be remanded due to the offending, the accused stated that she had created three email addresses … in order for him to create Facebook accounts, as he had asked her to do, knowing that he was making the bomb hoaxes via Facebook,” Snr-Const Niven said.
She told police “pressure” was being applied to her when asked why she created the email accounts knowing that they were going to be used to make bomb hoaxes.
Ms Tarrant was remanded to reappear in Swan Hill Magistrates’ Court on December 1.
