David Paul Potbury, 54, jailed for arson after Arthur Street, Depot Hill, house fire in 2019

Judge Clarke outlined the lengths a Rockhampton man went to trying to avoid punishment for torching his neighbours house, including blaming the elderly man in his care and prior tenants.

A man who purposely torched his neighbour’s house has narrowly avoided going to jail.

David Paul Potbury, 54, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court on August 20, 2021, to one count of arson and was sentenced on February 4, 2022.

David Paul Potbury received a jail term for the arson of a house fire in Depot Hill on October 31 on Arthur St. The house had been damaged in a smaller fire weeks prior.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Potbury set fire to a doona on an old cot underneath the Arthur Street, Depot Hill, house on October 31, 2019, which was vacant after a tenant’s child set fire to a room of the house weeks earlier.

He said CCTV captured Potbury creeping over to the house about 1.30am.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said the fire destroyed the house with the owner out of pocket $41,000 for the demolition costs.

He said the owner was paid $125,000 by his insurance company but was quoted $225,000 to replace the house.

Mr Sutton said the owner then sold the land for $35,000.

He said the motivation for the arson was not fraud.

“It was that he thought his neighbour’s house was an eyesore and he wanted it fixed,” Mr Sutton said.

Defence barrister Maree Willey said Potbury lived next door to the destroyed house, caring for his elderly housemates by doing their shopping, yard work and maintenance.

She said Potbury’s parents were deceased – his dad from cancer when Potbury was 22 and his mother two years later.

Ms Willey said Potbury had not been in contact with his nine siblings since he revealed his sexuality after his parents died.

She said her client worked in various jobs such as factories, labouring and as a public servant for the Department of Defence from 1998.

Ms Willey said he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and given a five per cent survival rate.

She said he underwent surgery, removing his pancreas, spleen and gallbladder, which left him with a reduced life expectancy.

Ms Willey said he had also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from childhood trauma, chronic lung disease, diabetes type 1, hypercholesterolaemia, a reflux disease and was immunocompromised since the surgery.

She said he had a history of suicide attempts and had been in the mental health ward for three or four days a day after the arson incident.

Judge Clarke said Potbury sought to detract from his full admissions about the fire during his second interview with police, had originally listed the matter for trial and applied to the court to have his police interviews removed from evidence.

He said Potbury pestered police after the fire, regularly asking for updates and tried to blame the former tenants at one stage and the elderly man in his care at another, saying he may have lit it when he went for a cigarette.

He said this demonstrated the lies he was willing to tell in order to escape punishment.

“You clearly are a dishonest person,” Judge Clarke said.

“What happened here was odd.”

He sentenced Potbury to three years prison with immediate parole and a conviction recorded.