Angelo Ziotas: Essenza Italian arson plot left owner in ‘shock’
A restaurant manager set his Surry Hills’ eatery alight, killing his boss’ dog, and stabbing himself in the back numerous times, to make it appear as though he had been the subject of a vicious attack. In the process, he dragged down the innocent long-time owner of the restaurant with him.
Central Sydney
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A woman whose business of 20 years was burnt to a crisp by her restaurant manager – her beloved kelpie killed as a result of the blaze – has told a court of the “betrayal and shock” of “discovering the dark side” of a man she had known for six years.
When Angelo Ziotas, 38, set fire to the Surry Hills’ restaurant Essenza Italian, which he had run for those six years, and stabbed himself in the back twice as part of an “elaborate” staged plan to gain a financial benefit, owner Kate Still was “blindsided”, she told the court.
His lawyers said he was hoping to get some kind of superannuation benefit.
Ms Still described the incident and its aftermath as the toughest period of her life, and said she was living in the incredulous plot of a “Hollywood movie” in which “another world was revealed” by a man with whom she was in a casual relationship.
She was sucked into the whole charade, hurled abuse from online trolls and the public who thought she must have known about the arson scheme and assumed she had let her dog die for an insurance payout, the court heard.
Like the cops, Ms Still had initially fallen for Ziotas’ version of events of July 4, 2019.
Ziotas told police and those closest to him that he been at the centre of a brutal arson attack, the Downing Centre District Court heard on Friday.
Someone had broken into the restaurant, he told police, stabbed him in the back, and set the building on fire.
He was trapped inside, and had to be rescued.
A good samaritan even ran into the burning building to save him.
A dramatic video shown to the court depicted the moment Ziotas was pulled from a side door by rescue personnel, as smoke bellowed out of an upstairs window.
Fifteen police attended the restaurant the next day to carry out a major homicide investigation.
On July 5, police surveyed CCTV material which showed an unidentifiable man with dark clothing on the garage roof.
Four days after the fire, both Ziotas and Ms Still took three names to police, the court heard, and one man in particular became of interest as a result of Ziotas’ interview.
Police searched his house for two hours before eventually finding a receipt which gave the man an alibi.
On July 10, Ziotas’ DNA was found inside a pair of gloves found in the premises.
It was then that he became a suspect for the arson attack.
On July 26, in a three-hour interview with police, Ziotas still maintained the lie, the court heard.
Police allege Ziotas planned the ruse extensively, even spray painting his shoes and turning off the CCTV cameras.
The ground and top levels of the building were extensively damaged, some rooms hollowed out by fire.
Ziotas has since pleaded guilty to dishonestly damage property by fire for gain, recklessly beat etc. and kill animals and do act etc. intending to pervert the course of justice.
He appeared to the court via video link from Long Bay jail.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Still told court she was also serving time, and has no clue when she will be released.
Ziotas will be sentenced next month.