A man who lived in a Sydney home formerly owned by a Family Law Court solicitor found a bomb under his car bonnet when he opened it to do some repairs, a murder trial has been told.
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"I thought this is not good," Peter Tall said in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
He'd sat in the car and put the key in the ignition before changing his mind about moving the Holden Torana into the garage to do some work on the morning of February 10, 1985.
Mr Tall was giving evidence at the trial of former Family Court litigant, Leonard John Warwick, who had been involved in a bitter legal dispute with his estranged wife Andrea Blanchard.
The 71-year-old has pleaded not guilty to four murders and 20 other offences relating to seven events that occurred between February 1980 and July 1985.
They included the shooting murders of his brother-in-law Stephen Blanchard and Justice David Opas; the bombing of Justice Richard Gee's home and of the Family Court building in Parramatta; and the bombing of the home of Justice Ray Watson in which his wife Pearl was killed.
Warwick is also accused of setting off a bomb that ripped apart a Jehovah's Witnesses hall, killing Graham Wyke and injuring 13 people.
Ms Blanchard's then solicitor has testified that he sold his Northmead home in 1984 and moved out but his name was still listed at that address in the phone book in 1985.
Mr Tall on Friday said he'd been living at the house in February 1985 when he found the explosive under the bonnet of his car.
The evening before he was woken by a clunk or metallic sound, but when he went to the front door and saw a figure, he thought it was his solidly built neighbour.
Mr Tall said he didn't know anyone who'd want to harm him or who had access to explosives.
Six months earlier, he was involved in a fatal accident, over which he was convicted, but he said the dead woman's family had not blamed him.
The trial continues before Justice Peter Garling.
Australian Associated Press
