The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Group fled burning car after smoke bomb stunt
PERTH: Callum Torbet’s throw left David Cargill and friends engulfed in red fog
Four friends had to abandon their car in terror after a man launched a large smoke bomb through their window.
Callum Torbet threw the incendiary device from his taxi as the two vehicles sat side by side at traffic lights in Perth city centre. Driver David Cargill and his passengers found themselves engulfed in a thick red fog and panicked as the smoke bomb then burst into flames.
Torbet had denied deliberately targeting the vehicle.
Sheriff William Wood told the 22-year-old he had been guilty of a “strange and unusual” offence.
Sentence was deferred to discover the extent of damage caused to the car and trauma suffered by the victims.
Torbet will appear for sentencing at Perth Sheriff Court in January.
Four friends had to abandon their car after a man threw a smoke bomb through their window.
David Cargill and his passengers were engulfed in a thick red fog as they sat at traffic lights in the centre of Perth.
They then panicked as the device burst into flames.
Mr Cargill pulled his car off the road before he and his passengers exited, one scooping up the smoke bomb to stamp it out on the pavement.
The device had been thrown by 22-year-old Callum Torbet from the passenger seat of a taxi.
Depute fiscal Claire Kennedy said it was a calculated attack on the car, saying: “While the cars were stopped side by side, the accused pulled the smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it into the driver’s window of the car opposite.
“It hit Mr Cargill and bounced into the back of the car, from where it began to fill the car with red smoke, obscuring the vision of all inside.
“The driver pulled the car over and all four occupants quickly got out.
“The smoke bomb had by this point caught alight.
“One of the passengers threw it out of the car and it was stamped out.”
Solicitor Paul Ralph told the court the offence was “perhaps not quite as bad as it initially appears” as he attempted to persuade Sheriff William Wood the act had not been deliberate.
“Mr Torbet was in the passenger seat of a taxi,” he said.
“Friends were in the rear of the car and it was one of those individuals that initially had the smoke bomb.
“They have been playing with the device and it has fallen into the footwell of the taxi and started to go off.”
The agent said his client had made efforts to defuse the device, but had only succeeded in making matters worse.
“He picked it up and threw it out of the window but straight into Mr Cargill’s car as it was sitting alongside at the lights,” Mr Ralph said.
“He is of course extremely fortunate that no one was injured.”
Torbet, of Newhouse Place in Perth, admitted culpably and recklessly igniting a smoke bomb and throwing it through the open window of a car in Perth’s Atholl Street on May 6 this year.
Sheriff Wood chose not to comment on Torbet’s claims and simply told him: “This was a rather strange incident. “It was definitely unusual.
“I will defer sentence upon you for social work reports and to find out the extent of the damage your actions caused.
“It may have been substantial.” The sheriff also asked for confirmation that the four victims had not suffered any ill effects as a result of the smoke.
Sentence was deferred until January 3.
While the cars were stopped side by side, the accused pulled the smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it into the driver’s window of the car opposite. DEPUTE FISCAL CLAIRE KENNEDY