A Wodonga man wanted to make a statement on a lack of welfare payments when he started a house fire using a mattress and McDonald’s wrappers.
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But despite staging a break-in, Beau Sikorski failed to fool police.
Instead, Sikorski faced Wodonga Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to face a charge of arson.
The 20-year-old had been living at the Melrose Drive property, organised by the Rural Housing Network, for just a week when he hatched the plan on October 1, 2015.
The court heard Sikorski dragged a mattress from the bedroom to the hallway about 2pm.
“He has then disabled the smoke detector in the hallway by knocking the detector from its bracket,” the prosecutor said.
Sikorski lit old McDonald’s wrappers on the stove to set fire to the mattress then used his elbow to smash a window,to give the impression someone had broken into the home.
As he fled the burning house, it was left up to his neighbours to call triple-0 for help.
CFA firefighters had to force their way into the Melrose Drive building, where they found the hallway fully alight.
The quick response from the CFA prevented the Wodonga home from going up in flames.
But the extensive flame and smoke damage and repairs came to a total of $10,000.
“If not for the work of the CFA, the premises was very close to flashing over and becoming a much larger fire,” the police prosecutor told the court.
Sikorski went to the Department of Health and Human Services at 3.30pm that afternoon to report his home had been broken into and set on fire.
By 4.30pm, Wodonga police were interviewing him as a suspect with their own questions.
“After initially denying any involvement or knowledge of the fire being lit, Sikorski admitted he had set the fire in the hallway as he was upset with DHHS,” the prosecutor said.
Wodonga detectives discovered his finances were being controlled by an outside trustee and he was upset he was not receiving enough money.
The 19-year-old was also upset with the Rural Housing Network so he targetted his own house.
The court heard Sikorski had issues with drugs and alcohol.
The court placed him on 12-month community corrections order, which included the conditions to complete drug, alcohol and behaviour programs under supervision.