Beeping at a woman about to hit their car in the drive-thru at McDonald's Warrawong turned into a six week-long nightmare for an Illawarra family that culminated in their Ford Ranger exploding in the household's driveway in the middle of the night, police will allege.
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A "relatively minor" altercation between a couple and a woman at the 24-hour McDonald's on February 22 led to a prolonged alleged stalking and harassment campaign by the woman who was beeped at and her partner, who was not present at the time of the altercation, counter terrorism and special tactics command's Detective Superintendent Michael McLean told reporters on Tuesday.
The woman who the couple honked at initially complained to Wollongong Police, then told her partner about the perceived slight.
Using what Detective Superintendent McLean called "ingenious" methods to allegedly track down the couple who beeped, the alleged "grievance-fuelled violence" began.
The windows of the couple's ute were smashed as it sat outside their home on February 23.
Then the "barrage of online threats" began. In the early hours of March 5, the Ford Ranger was blown up.
That explosion "could have killed" a person, Detective Superintendent McLean said.
Just after 6am on Tuesday morning, a 33-year-old man was arrested at Warrawong BP where he was getting fuel on his way to work.
His 31-year-old partner was arrested during a search of home in Lake Heights later that morning.
The pair were interviewed by local detectives and Fixated Persons Investigation Unit (FPIU) investigators at Wollongong and Lake Illawarra police stations.
On Tuesday afternoon, the man was charged with two counts of using a carriage service to threaten serious harm, two counts of stalk/intimidate, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, destroying or damaging property, placing an explosive in/near a vehicle, threatening a witness and two counts of possessing or using a prohibited weapon.
He was refused bail to appear at Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday.
The woman was charged with accessory after the fact to destroying or damaging property and stalk/intimidate.
She was granted strict conditional bail to appear at the same court on May 22.
Investigators seized items consistent with making improvised explosive devices during a second search at a home in Lurnea.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller instigated the Fixated Persons Unit as one of his first acts as police commissioner, with a remit of targeting would-be lone wolf extremists before they commit a terrorist attack.
Comprised of 17 detectives and mental health workers, the unit investigates those who are seemingly fixated on individuals, institutions or issues but are not considered a risk for terrorism.
"What I do want to give is give the community a pathway to contact someone if they've got concerns about a family member, a friend or a neighbour because at the moment people don't see them as terrorists but they are committing terrorist activities," Commissioner Fuller said in a press conference announcing the initiative.
