By Cameron Houston and Adam Cooper/The Age
One of Melbourne’s biggest party-hire operators has faced allegations of arson, insurance fraud and launching cyber attacks on competitors during a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week.
Awesome Party Hire owner James Balcombe, 53, is accused of inciting and paying two men to torch rival businesses last year.
According to a former employee, Mr Balcombe was desperate to dominate the jumping castle market, which had been flooded by copycats.
Two of the arsonists pleaded guilty last year and were given reduced prison sentences after agreeing to testify against Mr Balcombe.
Giving evidence from prison via videolink, they claimed to have been offered $2000 by Mr Balcombe for each blaze, when they met at cafes in Melbourne’s north-east.
A third man, Travis Ransom, of Greensborough, pleaded guilty to four charges in the Magistrates Court last week over his role as a driver in some of the arson attacks.
The fires caused more than $2 million of damage to businesses in Hallam, Tullamarine, Keysborough, Werribee and Warragul.
Another blaze at a Hoppers Crossing factory almost wiped out one of Mr Balcombe’s biggest competitors, A & A Jumping Castles.
The court was told Mr Balcombe became aware police had linked the attacks on party hire businesses after speaking with a friend involved in a relationship with a police officer.
He allegedly hatched a plan to burn his own premises to distract police and fraudulently collect an $800,000 insurance payout.
Detective Senior Sergeant Thomas McGowan told the court that Mr Balcombe had trolled the website of a rival party hire business making several threats against the business and demeaning comments about the owner’s wife.
A former employee of Mr Balcombe claimed a consultant had been paid $1000 to remove competitors’ websites or change their rankings on the search engine, Google.
Mr Balcombe maintained his innocence during last week’s committal hearing and will stand trial in the County Court later this year on 10 arson-related charges.
