Bundall, Gold Coast: ‘Disgruntled’ customer accused of setting fire to $360,000 Mercedes at luxury car rental agency for bizarre reason
A reportedly disgruntled customer is accused of starting a large fire at a car rental company, scattering firewood and using fast food wrappers as kindling, then pouring gasoline over the material under a $363,000 Mercedes.
Moon Serk Park, 41, appeared in the Brisbane A court on Saturday laid a charge of arson in connection with the fire that destroyed Queensland Luxury Car Rentals on Ashmore Rd, in the Gold Coast suburb of Bundall, at about 6.30am on Friday morning.
Prosecutors said Park threw “a burning object” at the rental company’s gray Mercedes SUV, which he had previously set alight by placing flammable material underneath it.
Police allege he poured five litres of fuel from a can onto the firewood and used McDonald’s paper bags as kindling. The court heard his every move was captured on closed-circuit television cameras. Courier post.
A new AMG G63 costs around $363,591.
It is alleged that Park was angry with the car rental company after he paid $1,955 to rent a BMW, but failed to pay an additional $2,000 deposit, preventing him from picking up the car.
Mr Park demanded that the lease be cancelled and that he be given “an immediate refund”.
According to police, Park became angry after being told the refund would take five days and made “several threats” to the company “via text messages.”
A man has been charged with arson over a massive fire that broke out at a car rental company on the Gold Coast
When Queensland Luxury Car Rentals asked for a copy of Parks credit card to process the refund, he refused to provide it.
It is alleged that Mr Park hired a white Mazda cx30 with Victorian plates and drove up to the pavement in front of the car hire company to park, before getting out wearing a ‘black face mask and sunglasses’.
According to police, Mr Park took a 15-kilogram yellow bag of firewood from the trunk and then walked to the gray Mercedes, where he scattered the firewood underneath.
He reportedly returned to the rented Mazda and retrieved a five-gallon can of fuel from the front passenger door. He then poured the fuel onto the scattered beams beneath the Mercedes, before adding McDonald’s paper bags to the woodpile.
“The fire caused irreparable damage to the grey Mercedes and extensive damage to the building,” said Magistrate Terry Duroux, referring to the police objection to the bail statement.
‘Further damage was caused to luxury motor vehicles parked (in the vicinity) due to the heat, smoke and soot.
“The estimate of the monetary value of the damage is unknown at this time. The allegations seem quite strong to me.”
Police allege Moon Serk Park, 41, set fire to a $363,000 car to create an inferno at the rental company
Lawyer Anastasia Stoenko, of Legal Aid Queensland, said her client denied the allegation and questioned how Mr Park could be identified when he was wearing a face mask and sunglasses.
She said Mr Park, who has been an Australian citizen since 2003, had recently moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and was living in his car because he could not find a room he could afford on a $700 fortnightly allowance from Centrelink.
He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder during the pandemic and has struggled to get continued medication, Stoenko said.
Magistrate Duroux refused bail, saying the risk of Mr Park re-offending was too great.
Mr Park was on bail for another charge of arson, criminal damage and theft.
He is due back in court in Brisbane on August 5, where all current charges will be heard together.
The prosecution’s full evidence must be submitted to the court by August 31.