Tyler Fufalko pleads not guilty to lighting Auburn church hall fire
A trial date has been set for an alleged arsonist after he pleaded not guilty to lighting a fire that destroyed a church hall in Sydney’s west.
Parramatta
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A trial date has been set for an alleged arsonist after he pleaded not guilty to lighting a fire that destroyed a church hall at Auburn.
Tyler Fufalko, 28, was charged after an inferno engulfed the 150-year-old hall at St Thomas’ Anglican Church on March 2 last year.
Fifty firefighters were called to contain the blaze but were forced to retreat moments before the Provincial St structure collapsed.
No injuries were reported.
Fufalko appeared at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court for arraignment on Friday when he pleaded not guilty to damaging property by fire/explosive (greater than $15,000).
A trial was listed for November 25 and is expected to run for five days.
Last year after the fire, Fufalko was also charged with possessing a prohibited drug.
Court documents state he had a black bottle containing gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and a syringe containing the substance with him at the time of the fire.
In July, he was convicted and fined $400 after he pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited drug.
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