Kyle Buchanan: Drunk set fire to Kensington’s Sacred Heart Convent
Nuns woke to find their Sydney convent ablaze after a drunk broke into their library and started a fire. However, the 31-year-old told a court he had no recollection of the incident.
Southern Courier
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A man who drunkenly broke into a convent in Kensington and lit a fire which endangered the lives of the nuns inside has told a court he cannot remember the incident.
Kyle Buchanan, 31, from Sussex Inlet, bowed his head in court as he was sentenced on Wednesday for the brazen incident which happened on May 13 last year about 9.30pm.
Nuns woke to a fire alarm blaring inside The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Convent in Kensington and found a blaze inside the library, a court heard.
The fire had spread to book cases and caused about $20,000 damage, a court heard.
However, the residents managed to get the fire under control before firefighters arrived and no-one was injured.
Police investigated but a charge was not laid until eight months later when a remarkable match was made linking Buchanan to DNA at the scene, including a fingerprint on one of the burnt books.
Buchanan was arrested and charged in January and spent 86 days in custody before being released on bail.
He fronted Waverley Local Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for break and enter house destroy property, having pleaded guilty to the offence.
His lawyer said he did not remember the incident as he was heavily intoxicated, but accepted he was there and committed the offence.
“What he does say to the court is he is a very different man,” his lawyer said.
She said he had been addressing his alcohol problems including by completing a drug and alcohol course while in custody and engaging with a psychologist.
The prosecutor said his actions could have killed someone that day and it was above the mid-range for this type of offence.
“If it was not for the fire alarm waking up the residents … this could have been more serious,” he said.
“There was potential for people to die. In that regard this is above the mid-range for this sort of offence.”
The prosecutor also said he was on bail for high-range drink driving at the time of the offence.
Magistrate Jacqueline Trad said a prison sentence must be imposed because of the seriousness of the offence.
However, after considering his lack of planning in the offence, the time spent in custody, and his work to address his alcohol problems, she said it was possible for him to serve a prison sentence by way of an intensive correction order and home detention.
She adjourned the sentencing until August 5 and ordered a home detention assessment to be completed.
Buchanan hugged and kissed his partner outside court following the matter.