Melb Jumpy Castle Mogul Charged With Literally Setting Fire To His Competition

The concepts of ‘children’s parties’ and ‘hardcore crime’ usually only meet in the fictitious representation of murderous clowns, but an absolutely wild arson case in Melbourne shows the shady underside of the bouncy castle industry. 

Seriously. 

It’s like this, but much less joyful.


Awesome Party Hire
owner Chris Balcombe is facing charges relating to the alleged firebombing of competing businesses, which racked up millions of dollar’s worth of damage.

Police claim Balcombe offered one of his drivers, Peter Smith, a cool $2,000 to hurl molotov cocktails at other players in the Melbourne party hire business.

Between December last year and the middle of February, five competitors suffered fire damages. One fire, at A&A Jumping Castles, destroyed over a million dollar’s worth of buildings and equipment. 

50 firefighters were required to bring that blaze under control.

In a statement heard in court, Smith said Balcombe wasn’t too chuffed that cars were destroyed in that blaze, and that he “just needed jumping castles to get destroyed.”

Police also claim that Balcombe arranged for his own business to be lit up, to dodge suspicions that Awesome Party Hire was behind the blazes. That fire did a number on Awesome Party Hire’s shed.

Smith has been charged with two counts of arson. An alleged accomplice, Craig Anderson, faces ten counts of the same crime. Both have plead guilty. They’ve received bail, and will reappear in County Court in November.

Balcombe and another alleged accomplice, Travis Ransom, will face ten and four counts of arson, respectively. Neither have entered a plea, and they’ve been bailed to appear in court in February. 

Just stick to PlayStation and party bags, everyone. This kind of conflict just ain’t worth it.

Source: The Age.
Photo: Master Of None / Netflix.

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