A man who poured a container of petrol and set fire to himself inside the front door of a Springvale bank full of customers has been jailed by the Victorian County Court.
Nur Islam, 24, was charged with injuring 15 of 39 customers and staff during his self-immolation in the Commonwealth Bank branch on Friday 18 November 2016.
In “traumatic and sickening” CCTV footage, the petrol exploded in flames, immediately engulfing Islam’s clothes and filling the bank with black, acrid smoke, Judge Howard Mason said during sentencing on 1 March.
The flaming Islam dropped the container, running around the inside of the bank.
It was a scene of “panic, confusion and danger”, the judge said.
The flames just inside the second glass front door immediately prevented people’s escape. Some took a risk of running in the midst of the blaze.
Several people banged desperately on a locked rear security door – many believed they were going to die, Judge Mason said.
An eight-year-old child, while being comforted, said she was going to die, she didn’t want to die.
A mother with a child in a pusher narrowly escaped before the petrol was lit.
A staff member eventually unlocked the security door, allowing occupants including Islam to flee to safety.
Four had received serious full-thickness burns to their faces, hands and other parts of their body, requiring hospitalisation and rehabilitation.
According to their statements, victims are haunted by their melting clothes, the smell of burning skin and their appearance causing others to recoil.
One described looking in a mirror and seeing a freak.
The blaze caused more than $2.6 million damage to the building.
Earlier that morning, Islam had been incensed after experiencing delays in withdrawing his Centrelink payments due to a non-activated bank card.
After receiving his money, Islam walked out, took a container from in front of a cafe, filled it with 11 litres of unleaded petrol and lit its contents just inside the second glass front door.
He’d claimed to police he’d been angered by not being served fast enough. He had not been acting normally due to smoking ice the night before, he said.
In the preceding months, his strange behaviour was observed by housemates. He’d spoken of insects and snakes coming out of his mouth, and of eating two ghosts he’d captured at home.
The court was not given any evidence that he was suffering a diagnosed mental illness at the time or that he was a long-term drug user, Judge Mason noted.
The Burmese-born asylum seeker was on a bridging visa after fleeing by boat to Australia without any family.
He would likely be deported after his jail term and possibly rendered stateless.
Islam suffered self-inflicted burns to 60 per cent of his body. At one stage, he was treated in intensive care and for a time was receiving daily dressings.
Almost his entire body was permanently scarred, Judge Mason noted.
Islam pleaded guilty to arson, four counts of recklessly causing serious injury and 11 counts of recklessly causing injury.
He was jailed for up to 11 years, with a non-parole period of seven years. His term includes 833 days in pre-sentence detention.
