Arson charges dropped in Wodonga motel room fire case

Trinity John Carter had faced one count of criminal damage by fire following the blaze at the Warrina Motor Inn on High Street, Wodonga.

A motel room was badly damaged by the blaze, which was lit by Felicity Meloury while she was high on drugs on August 31 last year.

It was alleged Carter had been with Meloury and had handed her the cigarette lighter used to start the blaze.

It was alleged he failed to do anything to put out the fire or alert authorities, despite walking up to the door of the room.

The incident caused $66,392 in damage.

Office of Public Prosecutions representative Carmela Pezzimenti on Wednesday told the Wodonga Magistrates Court the matter against Carter would not proceed.

"It's now the prosecution case to withdraw the charges your honour," she told magistrate Ian Watkins.

"Alright, the matters are struck out," he replied.

Meloury was released from custody in April over her involvement.

In a strange outcome, Carter spent three months more than Meloury in custody over the incident after contesting the charges.

The court heard he wanted to get on with his life after spending 10 months locked up on the dropped charges.

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He also faced a community corrections order breach after completing only five of 75 hours of unpaid community work over unrelated matters.

Magistrate Ian Watkins said his performance on the order was "less than adequate".

But he said given the amount of time he'd spent in custody, it wasn't appropriate to take any further action.

Deference lawyer Alan Marshall said his client wanted to get on with his life and deal with "a large number of very serious issues".

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