Austin Leith Mason poked sister in eye, started shed fire
A man who used a toaster to ignite a cigarette, setting fire to a shed, has become homeless after poking his sister in the eye and causing her temporary blindness.
Police & Courts
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A man who used a toaster to ignite a cigarette and ended up setting fire to a shed, became homeless after poking his sister in the eye, causing her to become temporary blindness.
Austin Leith Mason, 27, was made homeless again after the cigarette incident in Park Avenue on October 8 as his housemates were upset at what happened, defence lawyer Brendan Gimbert told Rockhampton Magistrates Court on October 9.
“He was trying to light a cigarette with the toaster,” he said.
“The bits at the bottom of the toaster caught fire.
“He threw it out into the yard; it caught the shed.”
The court heard a relative of one of the occupants was walking past the house and saw the fire.
“Thankfully, there was no major property damage,” Mr Gimbert said.
“He has been kicked out of that house now.”
Mason was in court, not for the fire, but for stealing offences and a charge of assault from the incident with his sister.
He had been living with his sister in Gladstone when he started yelling at her about the use of her phone on September 23.
Police prosecutor Clancy Fox said Mason tried to grab the phone off his sister, so she asked him to leave, and when he left, he slammed the bedroom door.
He said Mason’s sister followed him into the kitchen, where he picked up a bottle of relish and hit her in her right thigh.
Mr Fox said the defendant then approached her and poked her left eye.
“She tried to call triple-0 but couldn’t see,” he said.
The victim went to the bathroom to tend to her eye and could hear glass being smashed, which was a window Mason smashed.
Mason then picked up a glass table and threw it towards the victim, smashing it into a shelving unit.
“The table also struck the glass sliding door which caused that to glass sliding door to smash,” Mr Fox said.
He said Mason continued swearing and approached her, punching her while she was on the phone to emergency services.
Mr Fox said as Mason left, he picked up a rock and threw it at the house, leaving a hole in the wall.
Mr Gimbert said after this incident, Mason presented himself to the Mental Health Unit at Rockhampton Hospital.
He said after staying there a few days, his client was released with a prescription he could not afford to fill.
Mr Gimbert said his client, who has issues with substance use, reported hearing voices.
He said Mason would not be going back to his sister’s house, but had other family in Rockhampton to assist him.
Mason had also stolen two bottles of soft drink from an IGA in Gladstone on two separate occasions.
He pleaded guilty to one count of common assault, one of wilful damage and two of stealing.
Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale said this was an escalation in Mason’s behaviour.
She sentenced him to nine months prison with immediate parole release, ordered him to pay $200 in fines and $6.49 in restitution.
Convictions were recorded.
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