Bellinda Kontominas
February 9, 2008
A WOMAN agreed to plant a bomb on a busy Sydney street in exchange for a promise of marriage from her prisoner boyfriend, a court has heard.
Jill Allison Courtney and Hassan Kalache are on trial in the NSW Supreme Court, charged with conspiring to bomb a public place and kill or maim passers-by.
Courtney occasionally whispered to Kalache during the court proceedings.
In his opening address, the prosecutor, Anthony Cook, SC, said Courtney was "very much in love" with Kalache, who used the prospect of marriage "as an incentive" for her to carry out the plot.
He said Kalache had suggested Courtney "place a bomb in a public place in Sydney and she, mainly because of her love for him, agreed … that it would be done and that she would do it".
A search of Courtney's home found partial recipes for bomb-making and a wig which she planned to use as a disguise, Mr Cook said.
The court heard that Kalache and Courtney had formed a relationship by July 2005 which was carried out through telephone conversations and her visits to him at Lithgow jail.
In recorded phone conversations between July 1, 2005, and March 24, 2006, they spoke in code about an event which they at different times referred to as a "mission", a "party" and a "thing", Mr Cook told the court.
One phone call revealed the marriage would "not take place until after [Courtney had] completed something", Mr Cook said.
Courtney also spoke to a friend about the plot and revealed that there would be "an explosion using some form of fuel which, when combined with oxygen, will form a vapour which will burn".
In a conversation recorded on March 21, 2006, the couple discussed when the plot would be carried out. Courtney had planned it to occur on a weekday. However, Kalache wanted it done on a weekend, and in a heavily populated location, Mr Cook said.
Three days later Kalache called Courtney and she told him it was raining, which was "not good" for their "party".
"They are not talking about a backyard party that will be spoilt by rain," Mr Cook told the court. "They are talking about the carrying out of a mission which will be more difficult to carry out in the rain or cannot be carried out in the rain." The court heard that at one point the couple broke up over what appeared to be Courtney's reluctance to go through with the plot.
Mr Cook said a telephone conversation months later revealed Courtney asking Kalache to "come back to the mission question". "So if it was done, then what?" she asked him. "I told you … I would get married to you straight away," he told her.
Courtney later aborted the plan after being warned by a friend she may have been under police surveillance.
The pair have pleaded not guilty to both charges. The trial continues.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/wedding-vow-to-bomber-alleged/2008/02/08/1202234167146.html
Topic: Aussie tart! Wedding vow to bomber alleged (Read 1571 times)