Cafe arsonist Carl Gibbons to serve three-year prison sentence for torching Curious Vine Cafe on home detention
A cafe owner who was forced to flee to a nearby roof when he set fire to his failing business will spend his three-year prison sentence on home detention.
Police & Courts
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A cafe owner who torched his failing business only to end up seeking shelter from the fire on the roof of a neighbouring property will spend his three-year prison sentence on home detention, a court has ruled.
Carl Gibbons, 65, joked with employees at the Curious Vine Cafe in Semaphore that the business, which had only been open for six weeks, could burn down.
However, the District Court ruled that was not evidence of extensive pre-planning of the arson on March 20, 2017, but was an example of the thought “exercising his mind”.
Gibbons was found guilty of arson by a jury but District Court Judge Stephen McEwen said the man continued to maintain his innocence.
“His motive for this offence appears to have been primarily those financial difficulties. I say appears to be,” he said.
“He does not accept the jury verdict so of course he has not put forward a motive, but the plain inference from the evidence, which included evidence from a forensic accountant, is that financial difficulties were the primary motive.”
Judge McEwen also said that a “degree of animus” between Gibbons and his landlord may also have played a part in the crime.
The fire causes $220,000 damage to the building and could have spread to neighbouring businesses if not for the quick actions of firefighters.
Barristers Jon Lister and Stephen Apps, both of whom acted for Gibbons during his almost two years before the courts, argued that their client had not extensively planned the arson.
Judge McEwen ruled that setting fire to the cafe had not been “entirely spontaneous” but had only been on Gibbon’s mind in the days leading up to the arson.
“What I am prepared to accept is that it was only on March 17 that something that had previously at least been within his contemplation, or exercising his mind, became an actual plan,” Judge McEwen said.
“I also accept the submission that it was not a particularly well thought-out plan given that as events transpired he needed to retreat on to the roof of the adjoining premises.”
The court heard that Gibbons had impaired insight and judgment when he started the cafe as a result of a stroke.
That same impairment continued through the process of buying petrol and using it to burn down the cafe.
Judge McEwen said the crime called for a sentence of imprisonment, sentencing Gibbons to three years with a non-parole period of 18 months.
However, he ordered the sentence to be served on home detention because of Gibbons acquired brain injury.
