Moment homeowner is sent flying by backpack bomb as it explodes under his car

An Adelaide family who’ve been the target of numerous arson attacks over the past 18 months have been the victims of a homemade bomb that destroyed a car and sent a man flying through the air.

CCTV captured the moment the suspect arrived at the Salisbury Park home on a mountain bike in the early hours of Sunday morning before brazenly throwing a backpack under a car parked on the driveway.

In an instant, the backpack filled with petrol, gas cylinders and metal bolts ignited, causing an explosion which also set fire to the suspect’s leg.

Shane McKay rushed to save his wife’s vehicle before a second explosion sent him flying.

“The shockwave was that great he was thrown three metres,” Victim Tayla Matthews said.

“I was so scared that he had actually died.”

It was déjà vu for the McKay family after their Holden Commodore was destroyed when someone lit a palm tree on fire two Christmases ago, while Ms Matthew’s Hyundai Getz was torched in 2015.

“Any bump or noise that we hear we always have to check to make sure that someone isn’t trying to damage our property or trying to kill us,” Ms Matthews added.

Other cars have been splattered with industrial paint and a rock thrown at Mr McKay’s bedroom window.

“It’s terrifying,” Shane McKay told 7 News.

“You sort of just relax and think you’ll get on with your life and then bang, something else happens.

“I’m a bit sore in my shoulder obviously where it’s landed but nothing that’s really worried about at the moment.”