A SWAN Hill woman torched her social housing unit during an auditory hallucination, believing someone had switched her power off while she was cooking, a court has heard.
Melissa Tierney last month avoided further jail time after pleading guilty to arson in the Koori County Court, sitting in Mildura.
Tierney’s neighbour called police on September 20, 2021, after hearing banging and shouting, then smelt smoke and saw the unit engulfed in flames.
Investigations led to the fire being deemed suspicious.
Hours later, Tierney turned herself into police.
In the interview, she mentioned hearing a noise which “sounded like someone opening your electricity box outside the premises and turning the electricity off, when you were cooking at the stove”.
Judge David Sexton said Tierney became angry and proceeded to pour cooking oil over the kitchen area, the couch and the living room area before unsuccessfully attempting to ignite the cooking oil with a barbecue lighter.
She then ignited a plastic bag underneath the couch and a paper bag on a pile of clothes using the same lighter, which started the fire.
She fled the house and walked to a friend’s house nearby.
Damage was estimated at more than $200,000.
“The damage to and destruction of a home by arson carries with it great risks for nearby buildings, their occupants and those members of our community who put themselves at risk by serving in emergency services,” Judge Sexton said.
“I agree with the prosecution that your offending equates to a mid-range example of the offence of arson.
“The unit was a DFFH property, essentially state-subsidised housing, of which there is a limited supply, and what supplies there are invariably assist vulnerable members of the community.
“The destruction of the property at your hand constitutes a considerable drain on public resources.
“However, I accept that the method used by you to light the fire was fairly rudimentary, and there is no evidence that this was planned or premeditated on your part.
“Nor is there any suggestion in this case that you were motivated by revenge or some other concerning anti-social motive.”
Judge Sexton was satisfied that Tierney’s mental impairment at the time of the offending “very much impacted upon your offending behaviour, meaning that your responsibility for this serious offending is considerably diminished”.
“Your level of culpability is significantly diminished due to the fact that you were suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the offending … and that your limited account of the offending suggested that you were experiencing active symptoms of this condition in the form of auditory hallucinations, including a command auditory hallucination to set a fire.”
In sentencing, Judge Sexton took into account Tierney’s history of “profound trauma and disadvantage”.
“The effects of this do not diminish with the passage of time or repeated offending,” he said.
“I have given full weight to your deprived background in the sentencing exercise, particularly with regard to your moral culpability for this offending, which I regard as significantly reduced because of your background.
“You spent 73 days in custody in relation to this matter before being granted bail. This period took place in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its now well-known impacts upon the custodial system, with significant restrictions upon freedom of movement, and access to visits, activities and therapeutic endeavours.”
Judge Sexton accepted that Tierney pleaded guilty at the earliest stage in proceedings.
“I am satisfied that a further sentencing discount is warranted by virtue of your remorse,” he said.
“You handed yourself into police promptly after the offending, and your interview with police contained fulsome admissions with regards to your conduct.
“In combination with your early plea of guilty, I am satisfied therefore that you are indeed sorry for what you have done, warranting a mitigatory allowance.
“I have come to the conclusion that this is a most unusual case.
“The offending, of course, is serious and concerning. However, given the powerful constellation of mitigatory factors in this case, I have determined that an adjourned undertaking with conditions is the appropriate, indeed just, sentence.”
Judge Sexton sentenced Tierney to a three-year adjourned undertaking with conditions.
