KORUMBURRA Newsagency owner, Desmond Fitzgerald, 71, appeared in the Latrobe County Court this week, pleading guilty to one charge of arson, after setting fire to his own business premises in July last year.
However, while Judge John Smallwood said such offending could attract a penalty of up to 15 years in jail, he detailed some serious extenuating circumstances when sentencing Mr Fitzgerald to a three-year Community Corrections Order and 250 hours of community work, with conviction, on Thursday, August 3.
“It would be an act of cruelty to send Mr Fitzgerald to jail,” he said, referring to some of the personal details presented to the court on Mr Fitzgerald’s behalf.
He said the accused man had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, that there was zero risk of his reoffending, had shown remorse, held a previously unblemished record and was otherwise an upstanding member of the local community.
Numerous references tendered to the court, by members of the local community and Mr Fitzgerald’s family, attested to his good character.
Judge Smallwood said the crime was not motivated by any insurance claim, debts, personal gain, or revenge, that it caused no damage to other property or posed a risk to the community, being lit on a quiet Sunday night; but was simply “an act of self-sabotage” related to Mr Fitzgerald’s personal circumstances.
He also acknowledged that despite being presented with CCTV video footage of his offending, Mr Fitzgerald told police that he had absolutely no recollection of his actions on the night of Sunday, July 24, 2022.
Judge Smallwood placed a suppression order on some details of the case.
