Bad blood bomb in driveway

A NEWCOMB woman threatened to douse a woman in petrol and “burn her to death” before she set fire to the victim’s driveway with a homemade bomb, a court has heard.

Belinda Clark, 53, was denied bail at Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday over charges including reckless conduct endangering life, criminal damage by fire and causing an explosion likely to end life.

It’s alleged that an ongoing feud between Ms Clark and the Whittington victim was the motive behind an early morning arson attempt on Tuesday.

Police allege Ms Clark strapped together butane gas cylinders and a petrol can to make two bombs and then used them to start a fire in her rival’s driveway.

The fire destroyed two cars and almost spread to the house and its next-door neighbour, police said.

Senior Constable Jason Tom said police had found threatening text messages about the victim sent from Ms Clark’s phone.

He said one of the messages read: “Now I’ll stop at nothing to get her, I couldn’t give a f--k if I do jail time”.

Another message said: “I’m going to douse the c--t with petrol and burn her to death.”

On Wednesday, the court heard Ms Clark had allegedly phoned in her planned attack to Geelong police station and the victim’s ex-partner soon before the fire started.

Ms Clark, who represented herself in the bail hearing, said “my bark was louder than my bite”.

“I’ve been frightened for a long time. I’ve made some silly decisions,” she said.

In denying bail, Magistrate John Lesser said he was shocked by the text messages.

“I’ll be blunt — they scare the hell out of me,” he said.

Ms Clark was remanded in custody.