Craig Boland charged over Highland Drycleaners fire

A man allegedly left a threatening voicemail for his former girlfriend before police claim he burned her Southern Highlands business down and caused significant fire damage to her home.

Mittagong RFS attended a fire at a business on Bong Bong St in Bowral on October 15. A man has now been charged with allegedly lighting the fire.

A Sydney man allegedly threatened to burn his ex-girlfriend’s business down to “get her attention” weeks before police claim he burnt her Southern Highlands dry-cleaning business down.

Craig Boland, 46, has been charged with two counts of breaking and entering to destroy property and two counts of damaging property by fire following two fires at a Bowral business and a Mittagong home.

In a statement NSW Police said emergency services attended Highland Drycleaners on Bong Bong St in Bowral at 11pm on October 15 following reports of a fire.

“Despite the efforts of Fire and Rescue NSW officers, the building was destroyed,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Hours later at 3.40am, police attended a Mittagong home, where FRNSW officers extinguished a second fire which caused “extensive damage” to two rooms.

Police will allege Boland had left his former girlfriend a voicemail on October 1 saying “I’m going to go and burn your business down, that’s going to get your attention”.

Officers attached to Kings Cross Police Area Command arrested Boland at St Vincents Hospital in Darlinghurst, where a court heard he had attended immediately after the fires occurred to seek psychological assistance.

Downing Centre courthouse on Liverpool Street, Sydney. Picture: AAP

Boland faced Downing Centre Local Court on October 18, where his solicitor Mark O’Brien applied for his bail.

The court heard police will allege Boland made a confession to starting the blazes at his former partner’s business and home.

“I don’t say these are (anything) other than serious offences, and you won’t hear from me that there’s anything other than a confession,” Mr O’Brien told Magistrate Clare Farnan.

“He has had a very rough couple of years.”

Mr O’Brien told the court Boland began dating the complainant some months ago after the end of his marriage at the start of 2022.

Their relationship had ended some weeks before Boland is alleged to have set her business and home alight.

The court also heard Boland had been supporting his mother during her battle with cancer and had suffered particular personal stress in recent months as he became a complainant himself in an ongoing criminal matter.

Mr O’Brien offered a $50,000 surety from Boland’s mother, an address in Newcastle where Boland could reside with a friend and daily reporting to mitigate any bail concerns.

However, Ms Farnan was not convinced.

“I take into account the extreme seriousness of the allegations against him,” Ms Farnan said.

“He’s alleged to be the person that lit these fires at a time he was already having psychological treatment and it seems the stressors in his life are such that my concern he may commit a serious offence or endanger the safety of the victim can’t be mitigated.”

Ms Farnan refused Boland’s bail and he was remanded in custody to face Moss Vale Local Court on November 29.