[kellyhound]

Nur Islam, 22, was caught on camera calmly entering the Commonwelath Bank in Springvale and then pouring petrol from a 20-litre container in the doorway.

Footage shows him bending down and igniting the fuel using a lighter from his pocket, which then sparks a large fire which engulfs his entire body.

Thick black smoke fills up in the bank as the fire continues to spread causing customers to flee.

The fire, which happened on November 18 last year, destroyed $2.5 million building and injured 33 people, including children.

Islam, who spent four months in hospital with burns to 60% of his body, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today and admitted to lighting the fire but said he ‘did not intend to hurt anyone’.

He told the court he was ‘angry at being kept waiting’.

Islam pleaded not guilty to 33 of the charges of intentionally causing injury and serious injury.

He faces 108 charges in total including arson and property damage by fire.

His lawyer, Barnaby Johnson, said the footage showed Islam pouring petrol onto the floor, stepping in the centre of the puddle and appearing to have ‘deliberately lit himself’.

Mr Johnson added: ‘He suffered the most significant and catastrophic injuries as a result of this incident.’

It is believed Islam, from Myanmar, had wanted to withdraw $442 from his account but became angry because he had to wait a long time.

So he allegedly walked to a nearby service station and bought 11.33 litres of fuel for $14.71.

He then returned to the bank, poured the petrol in a trail from the ATMs into the bank’s interior before using a cigarette lighter to ignite the fuel, police claim.

Islam is due to appear at the County Court of Victoria for a first directions hearing tomorrow.

For refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar, the Burmese Village cafe is one of the few places in Melbourne where they can go to meet up with other members of the community.

In the months before he walked into the Commonwealth Bank branch about 300 metres away with a container of fuel and set himself on fire, Nur Islam used to come here occasionally and drink cups of sweet Burmese tea.

Those who saw the 21-year-old at the cafe must have known that something was deeply wrong, that he would barely speak two words to anyone, that he had no family or friends and was isolated from the community he was supposed to be apart of.

But no one appears to have heeded the warning signs before it was too late, including the system implemented by the government to support people like him.

"He was not normal, he was talking to himself," says Mr Islam's housemate Joseph Joseph. "He didn't want to answer my questions. I see him, he's got tension. He was angry inside."

The people who knew Mr Islam are quick to admonish his alleged fireball attack, the horrific way he chose to vent his anger at not being able to access Centrelink payments and how he injured 27 people, including himself.

However, some are wondering why he didn't tell someone about his problems.

It is understood Mr Islam is a client of Life Without Barriers, a rapidly growing non-profit organisation which won a lucrative federal government contract to deliver support services to asylum seekers in 2014.

Mr Joseph says that a case worker would have been in contact with Mr Islam in the weeks and months leading up to the attack. Mr Islam would meet with his case worker in Dandenong but often lacked the means to afford a myki to make the trip.

"Everybody has a case worker, I told him if you got anything happen you don't want to talk to me then you talk to your case worker," he says.

What his case worker was telling him is unclear. It's been reported that Mr Islam was recently asked to visit a Centrelink office but left because the line was too long. He reportedly told his case worker his friends would support him.

Before winning the federal government contract, Life Without Barriers supported just 35 asylum seekers in Victoria in 2014. That number is now 2843. The organisation turned over $400 million in 2016, up from $163 million in 2009.

Advocates question whether the rapid growth of Life Without Barriers has left it struggling to support the needs of people who are at serious risk.

They say case workers at Life Without Barriers are dealing with as many as 80 clients each, although others think the number is lower. Life Without Barriers referred request for comment to the Immigration Department.

"Many of the agencies are under enormous pressure to deliver services and support without anything like the required resources to be able to do so," says Refugee Council of Australia acting CEO Tim O'Connor.

The picture that has emerged of Mr Islam since the attack took place a week ago shows someone who became increasingly unhappy at his uncertain status, with very few people to rely on and speak to.

His housemate Mr Joseph says he first met Mr Islam in the Scherger detention centre, in far north Queensland, where they used to play in soccer tournaments together.

However when they saw each other again earlier this year, Mr Joseph noticed a change. It wasn't just that he was homeless, he was also deeply upset about something.

"Sometimes at midnight he would walk around outside," he says. "I said 'what happened, why you don't want to sleep?'. He didn't want to talk to me."

Contributing to the isolation, Mr Joseph, 40, said Mr Islam was much younger than other six Myanmarese he lived with in a weatherboard house on Kemp Street in Springvale.

He also had very few friends, his housemate says, and was worried about his family back in Myanmar, who he was trying to support.

Mr Joseph believes that a sister's illness contributed to Mr Islam's money woes, which his housemates offered to assist with. There have also been reports of gambling problems, however his housemate could only say that Mr Islam's phone once went missing.

Idleness also had its impact. He was on a bridging visa, with poor English and unable to work. His daily routine would extend to smoking JPS cigarettes at home, drinking cups of tea at the Burmese Village and playing pool at the Vietnamese snooker hall next door to the cafe.

And while Mr Islam has been identified as a member of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya minority, some in the local community question whether that is actually the case.

They say his inability to speak the language meant he was more likely a Burmese Muslim, however others say his parents were Rohingya and that he grew up in Yangon.

That split has left many upset at the negative attention focused on the Rohingya community, which will continue to gather at the cafe in Springvale known as "Idris' shop" after its owner.

"Everyone comes here usually, we have no other places to go," says one customer, Shawfikul Islam, who remembers Mr Islam coming in and sitting in the corner quietly.

"Even if they want to go somewhere else, they start here."

[spudigitti]

You'd have to pity that poor kunt !!

[Necrotic Bowel]

Mr. Islam. Can't make this shit up.

[Watcher===]

I can't see a monumentally huge queue, FFS.

And it's not like he was at work and got frustrated in his lunch break either. Unless he was on the black market, he would have had all day.

[Fuchs414]

Who would have thought mr. Islam would end up a terrorist?

He clearly didn't want to hurt anyone, that's why he chased that guy...? Good luck defense team!

[zin0]

Sick fuck

[Oswald2001]

Europe needs more moo slum invaders. Obviously.