NSW bushfires: Christopher Sun refused bail for lighting firework
One of the city’s top corporate lawyers wept in his hands from jail on Monday as a magistrate told him that his obsession with fireworks made him a danger to the community in the current catastrophic bushfire conditions.
NSW
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One of the city’s top corporate lawyers wept in his hands from jail on Monday as a magistrate told him that his obsession with fireworks made him a danger to the community in the current catastrophic bushfire conditions.
Commonwealth Bank lawyer Christopher Sun, 34, was refused bail in Newtown Local Court after pleading guilty to handling explosives without a licence but not guilty to setting fire to Crown land last month.
A third charge of lighting fires during a total fire ban was dropped because the ban had not applied to Sydney.
Sun — who the court heard was a “top-tier” corporate lawyer — appeared by videolink from Parklea jail as Magistrate Glenn Bartley said there was a strong prosecution case that he had deliberately lit a bushfire and there were no bail conditions that could ameliorate the risk of him doing it again.
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The court heard Sun had an “obsession” with the “artistry and theatricality” of fireworks.
The court was told that Sun had recently completed a five-day fireworks course in Canberra but had not completed his final submission to apply for his explosives licence.
Mr Bartley said Sun had no previous convictions and was an intelligent man in his 30s who would have known parts of NSW were subject to unprecedented bushfire conditions on November 14 when he lit a firework in Sydney Park at St Peters at about 9.45pm.
Sun’s parents, his girlfriend and colleagues — including some from his previous employer at leading law firm Minter Ellison — were in court to support him yesterday, his lawyer Nicholas Stewart said.
Mr Bartley said Sun had told a “series of lies” since he was allegedly seen by two witnesses named Scott and Erin.
They said they saw Sun use a torch to look around and see if anyone was in the park before he threw a lit firework over a fence into dry grass and ran away when the grass burst into flames. The couple beat out the flames themselves.
The couple also took his photo and called the police.
In his car police found more fireworks — which Sun had bought illegally online — as well as a number of cigarette lighters and in-car lighters.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Skye Stromquist opposed bail on the grounds of community safety and said it was pure luck there were witnesses to put the fire out. The case was adjourned to January 23.
There were still 145 fires burning across the state with five “watch and act” alerts in place late yesterday.
Last night the Princes Highway remained closed on the state’s South Coast, cutting access to coastal communities as the RFS has warned those living in areas between Kioloa and North Durras that it was too late to leave.