Gosford: Daemon Bullivant sentenced over illegal New Year’s Eve fireworks
A magistrate has described a man who drunkenly set off a firework among thousands of people on New Year’s Eve before dropping a lit cigarette in dry shrubbery as “beyond belief”.
Central Coast
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A man who was caught red-handed setting off a firework in the middle of a crowded park on New Year’s Eve later told police he also dropped a lit cigarette, which was more likely to have sparked a large grass fire.
But despite the admissions, a court heard Daemon Bullivant was never charged with starting the out-of-control fire at Leagues Club Park on December 31 because there was no way of proving it beyond reasonable doubt.
The 51-year-old Narara man faced Gosford Local Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to handling explosives without a permit by setting off a firework, being in possession of eight more fireworks and discarding a lit cigarette.
The court heard thousands of people, mostly families with young children, were enjoying New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Gosford waterfront park about 9.15pm when Bullivant set off a cracker and dropped his cigarette.
About the same time a small fire started in the garden where he was standing, which quickly spread out of control.
Bullivant’s solicitor Tony Newton said police never charged his client with starting the fire because there were lots of people around, including some teenagers who were also reportedly letting off fireworks in the area.
Magistrate Kirralee Perry said while she had to be careful not to sentence him for “the consequences of the fire”, the risk he put thousands of people in danger of was “catastrophic”.
She asked the windscreen repairer if he wanted to be a good role model for his five children or “a dad that does stupid things like this?”
“It is beyond belief that you would even contemplate that,” Ms Perry said.
She convicted Bullivant of all three charges and put him on a community correction order for three years with a condition he abstain from alcohol for the first 12 months.
Ms Perry also fined Bullivant $1500.
An agreed set of facts states police were monitoring crowds near the roundabout of Central Coast Hwy and Dane Dr when they heard several fireworks exploding and turned around and looked straight at Bullivant.
“Standing in the waist high garden, next to the fire, was the accused,” the facts state.
“This grass quickly turned into a large out of control fire.
“Police attempted to use a number of fire extinguishers on the fire but by this time it has spread roughly 10m by 10m and had flames going several metres into the air.”
As officers began moving people back, onlookers started yelling “He started the fire! He chucked fireworks into the bushes”.
Bullivant looked directly at police just 3 to 4m away and “immediately started fleeing” through the crowd.
“Police chased the accused about 100m and tackled him in the crowd before placing him under arrest,” the facts state.
Police searched him and found a further seven red fireworks and one larger blue firework in his possession.
“Once arrested, police acknowledge the accused became apologetic and proceeded to make full admissions to not only possessing and using fireworks at the time the fire started but also supplied police with a version that he thinks the lit cigarette that he accidentally dropped in the bushes started the fire, not the fireworks,” the facts state.
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