Revealed: Geelong arsonists and firebugs in court
They’ve put people in danger and caused millions of dollars of damages. The Addy lifts the lid on Geelong’s arsonists. SEE THE LIST
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The dread of an inferno is universal.
The image of black smoke billowing from your home almost doesn’t bear thinking about.
But for the victims of arsonists in the Geelong reason, it was a reality.
Some returned home to find their homes surrounded by firefighters, others had to flee from their beds as their houses burned.
Every case leaves devastation in its wake, and a cost; both the calculable – the arsonists in this list caused about $2m in all – and the incalculable, mementos, memories, the sentimental joy homes bring us.
Geelong fires have been in the news in recent times, notably a blaze that gutted Northern Bay College’s Hendy campus in the last fortnight.
Last month the Geelong Advertiser revealed detectives were investigating whether a series of fires at abandoned homes in Geelong were linked.
The Geelong Crime Investigation Unit (CIU) is probing at least four suspicious fires at vacant properties in September.
CIU Detective Sergeant Mark Guthrie said it was yet to be determined whether the incidents were linked.
The spate of fires came after a series of bizarre tree fires in June in Belmont led to nature strips blackened and power lines burnt through.
Belmont was also the site of several arson attacks earlier this year, with five suspicious blazes all believed to be linked.
Four trees and a building were torched in the early hours of March 10, prompting detectives to appeal for information to help find the culprit.
Homes and trees aren’t the only targets of Geelong firebugs – two cars were set alight just days apart in May, the first in Grovedale on May 25 and the second in St Albans Park on May 27.
Here are some of the arsonists to face court over the past 18 months.
Nathan Sinclair
Nathan Sinclair is the latest Geelong arsonist to face justice for his crimes.
Sinclair left three generations of a family devastated when he burned down the home of a single mother, her children and her mother.
Sinclair pleaded guilty to single counts of arson and making threats to damage property and was jailed for a maximum of three years.
Sinclair lit the fire because his victim had borrowed his car and hadn’t returned it fast enough.
He bombarded the woman with almost 60 calls on the morning of the fire, and left a chilling voicemail that said: “Do you actually want me to burn this house down, because I will? I f**king swear I will. All you have to do is answer and bring the f**king car. I’m not joking.”
Sinclair followed through with his threat and the house was completely gutted by the fire, which caused more than $350,000 worth of damage.
Samantha Darrington
Like Sinclair, Samatha Darrington made a chilling warning before lighting a fire.
Darrington was sentenced to two years and four months behind bars on October 11, after pleading guilty to arson and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The court heard prior to lighting her unit on fire on June 4, 2023, Darrington knocked on her neighbour’s door.
The family who lived in that home were a couple with two small children, who were asleep at the time.
After a short exchange, she warned the man who answered: “You better call the fire brigade cause I’m burning my house down with your family in it”.
Later, the man tried to stop her leaving the scene, before Darrington said: “you better get back to your house, because your kids are melting.”
The blaze caused $139,000 worth of damage to Darrington’s home and meant the joinery, windows and doors had to be replaced, while the kitchen, bedroom and laundry had to be rebuilt and new light fittings installed.
Kain Kelly
Corio arsonist Kain Kelly was on an ice binge when he climbed onto his neighbours’ roof and stuffed fireworks into the roof cavity.
Kelly appeared in the County Court at Geelong in July, where he pleaded guilty to several charges including arson, theft, drug-driving, dangerous driving and possessing an explosive substance.
Judge Gregory Lyon jailed Kelly for a maximum for three years and nine months, with a non-parole period of two and a half years.
After lighting the fire, Kelly was confronted by his elderly neighbour who found him on her carport roof.
Kelly told her to “f--k off” and after seeing smoke billowing from her roof, she called triple-0 and tried to put it out with a garden hose.
Her 11-year-old grandson was inside.
Judge Lyon told Kelly it was “no exaggeration” to say his actions caused fear and terror, and they were fuelled by a perceived slight by his neighbours that was “utterly fictional”.
The fire caused in excess of $200,000 in damage.
Allan James Pilling
Serial firebug Allan James Pilling set two different homes he was living in ablaze.
Judge Michael Tinney jailed Pilling for two years and 10 months for the fires, which happened in Newtown in September 2021 and Whittington in March 2023.
The second fire was lit just eight days after Pilling had appeared in court in relation to the first blaze.
The court heard Pilling was a diagnosed schizophrenic, but judge Michael Tinney rejected it as being in any way responsible for his offending, telling the court drug use was a bigger factor.
“He’s got a serious mental illness, but a serious mental illness doesn’t produce this offending … drug use is deeply implicated,” Judge Tinney said.
The fires caused about $280,000 worth of damage.
George Marrogi
Crime boss, murderer and drug trafficker George Marrogi added arsonist to his resume when he twice set fire to his Barwon Prison cell.
Marrogi pleaded guilty in Sunshine’s Magistrates Court in May, where he was sentenced to six months in jail, to run concurrently with his sentence for the 2016 killing of Kadir Ors.
The court heard that on May 28, Marrogi lit his cell on fire using two wires and a power socket.
He became difficult when guards tried to put it out, hindering efforts to put it out.
He was taken to Geelong hospital for smoke inhalation, an X-ray revealed he had swallowed a USB-stick or dongle, which had to be surgically removed.
His lawyer said it had been in his system for months.
In a later incident, Marrogi sprayed liquid faeces into the face of a guard when the guard came to serve him food.
He lit another fire on April 8.
The fires caused more than $6000 each in damage.
Bruno Mete
Arsonist Bruno Mete’s plea hearing was delayed when his defence didn’t have enough material for the court to consider.
Bruno Mete appeared in the County Court at Geelong in July for a plea hearing, having earlier pleaded guilty and been arraigned on one count of arson.
The court heard Mete burnt down his unit in October 2022, causing $286,000 in damages.
However the hearing was adjourned.
Mete’s defence lawyer, barrister Joe Connolly, was yet to provide written submissions, as material he had subpoenaed had only just become available, the court heard.
The court heard the same thing had happened a year earlier, when the plea hearing was slated for June 2023.
Mete will reappear in court on December 16 for a plea hearing.
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Tyson Stocks
Winchelsea man Tyson Stocks got roaring drunk before setting a roaring fire that consumed two houses in the rural community.
Stocks pleaded guilty in the County Court at Geelong last year to arson and reckless conduct endangering life.
He was jailed for three years and six months, with a non-parole period of a year and 10 months.
Stocks set fire to a home in Winchelsea and the fire spread to a neighbouring home.
Both homes were filled with smoke and engulfed by the inferno within minutes.
The occupant of the first house was not at home, however a family living in the neighbouring property were forced to flee their home, which sustained $720,000 worth of damage.
Stocks handed himself in to police following the blaze, but said he couldn’t remember starting the fire.
Thomas Findlay
Former factory worker Thomas Findlay tied up a nine-year-old girl he was babysitting, blindfolded her and then set the house on fire while she was inside.
Findlay appeared in the County Court at Geelong in July last year and pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, arson and conduct endangering a person.
He was sentenced in October last year to five years behind bars without parole, followed by a three year community corrections order (CCO).
The court heard Findlay bound the girl’s wrists, taped her ankles together, tied a bandana across her mouth and blinded her with tape on October 24, 2021.
She was tied up for close to an hour before the fire, before she was untied and watched as Findlay grabbed a tank of fuel, poured its contents on the floor and lit a fire in the hallway.
Neighbours saw smoke coming from the property and desperately knocked on the window, trying to get Findlay out of the house.
The girl escaped the blaze, but Findlay remained in hospital for 11 days.
The fire caused $53,500 worth of damage to the home.
Originally published as Revealed: Geelong arsonists and firebugs in court
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