This is the story of an angry gambler who threatened to bomb a casino after losing 200k life-savings.
Angry Gambler "Threatened To Bomb Casino' By Rebecca Hewett
A MAN who had gambled away $200,000 threatened to blow up
Darwin's SkyCity Casino by strapping a bomb to his body, a Darwin court heard yesterday.
Mihad Kukuljevic, 67, told a croupier he was going to come back and bomb the casino after losing $200 on a roulette table in November last year.
Prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Littman said the pensioner, who had drunk six
schooners at happy hour, was left with only $1.40 for the bus trip home.
"He had a conversation with a croupier at another table and asked her if she had shares in the casino," the prosecutor said.
"She replied she didn't know. He said all the roulette tables were rigged.
"He said he would come back with a bomb and blow everyone up."
Sgt Littman said the croupier "stopped listening" and did not report the conversation straight away because she thought Kukuljevic was a "nutter who was all talk".
Kukuljevic, who earns $500 a fortnight, was banned from the casino grounds for a year and later attended a police station voluntarily.
The 67-year-old man pleaded guilty in Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday to one charge of threatening to burn or destroy a building.
Defence lawyer Stuart O'Connell said Kukuljevic was a chronic gambler who had lost more than $200,000 at casinos during his lifetime.
"He acknowledges he has a gambling problem and wants to be banned," Mr O'Connell said.
"The only problem is the current ban is not long enough, he wants to be banned for life."
Magistrate Dick Wallace said he had never seen someone charged with threatening to blow up a building before, and placed Kukuljevic on a two-year good behaviour bond.
"A few years ago you would have been treated like the croupier treated you," Mr Wallace said.
"But with bombs going off here and there, it's more likely to be taken seriously."
Gamblog Comment
I feel the guys pain. Losing ones life-savings of 200k in one sitting at the roulette tables is grim.
But you can't be coming back to the casino where you lost your bankroll, with a fake bomb strapped to your waist.
I think the pensioner Mihad Kukuljevic (67) was lucky not to get a custodial sentence. I guess the only reason the old boy never lost his liberty was that he is of pensionable age.
