Jason McGrath had been drinking alcohol, put his hands around his partner’s throat during a fight, then walked for about three hours before making the decision to set fire to dry grass on a summer night.
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McGrath, 27, appeared in Wodonga County Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to intentionally causing a bushfire and was told he was at real risk of being sent to jail.
He also pleaded guilty to the unlawful assault of his then-partner at their Chiltern home after he arrived home drunk at 11.15pm and choked her with his hands around her throat.
“We were just having an argument, I got angry and lashed out at her,” he later told police.
The assault was in breach of an intervention order.
McGrath walked about two kilometres over several hours along Chiltern-Rutherglen Road before stopping at Cornishtown at about 2.20am, where he lit the grass with a cigarette lighter.
Instead of being able to stamp the fire out with his foot like he planned, the flames spread in the wind and eventually burnt eight to 10 hectares of land on a private property.
Judge Richard Smith said the damage could have been worse than just fencing.
“It’s a very lucky outcome that apparently no stock was injured and no persons were injured,” he said.
“It’s a pretty serious thing in December up this way to light a fire.
“It would come as no surprise a fire could get away.”
It’s a pretty serious thing in December up this way to light a fire.
- Judge Richard Smith
Although the Crown prosecutor did not push for a jail sentence, Judge Smith said that outcome “loomed large” because he needed to deter others from lighting bushfires.
McGrath initially denied lighting the fire when arrested by police, but barrister Hayden Rattray said his client sobered up during the interview and changed his mind, eventually admitting he was responsible.
He had thrown the cigarette lighter in a roadside bin as he walked away.
Mr Rattray said although the victims had not asked for compensation, McGrath would be willing to pay if the matter was brought to court.
“He had been walking for hours when he made the very foolish decision to light what he thought would be a small fire,” he said.
“My client regrets his conduct greatly.”
He said McGrath’s wellbeing had improved since he returned to live with his parents in Corowa and started working again, and believed he had good prospects of rehabilitation.
Mr Rattray said a community correction order would be just punishment for the crime.
The case was adjourned for sentencing at a later date.
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