Blake Banner: Trial hears ex-volunteer firey told detectives he lit fire before trying to stomp it out
A former volunteer firefighter charged with lighting seven fires in fives weeks told detectives he was often bullied at work, leaving him in tears.
The South Coast News
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The trial of a former south coast volunteer firefighter charged with lighting seven separate fires over five weeks last year has heard he told detectives he lit a fire on the day of his arrest before attempting to “stomp” it out.
Former Tarraganda Brigade volunteer firefighter Blake William Banner, 20, faced day four of his judge-alone trial on Thursday after pleading not guilty to lighting seven separate fires in and around Bega between October and November last year.
The court was played a recorded interview from November 26 last year between Banner and detectives at Bega Police Station, where Banner can be heard to admit to lighting a fire in sand on the Bega River using a plastic bottle.
“I tried to stop it. I actually stood there stomping on it,” he told detectives.
The court heard the NSW Rural Fire Service had implemented a Total Fire Ban on the day.
Banner told detectives it took him up to half an hour to start the fire using a clear plastic water bottle and the sun.
“I didn’t use any ignition sources,” he said.
He said he typed the first two zeros of a triple-O call to emergency services before throwing his phone away.
Banner also told detectives he put water on the fire as “it was getting too big”.
He was seen to shrug his shoulders when asked by detectives how many fires he had lit, before confessing to lighting “just” the November 26 fire after being told he had been under surveillance by police at the time.
He told detectives it was “not the thrill or the status” that motivated him.
Detective Senior Constable Clinton Oxenbridge told the court as many as four police officers had Banner under surveillance as well as the Dr George Mountain Road at Tarraganda due to two suspicious fires in quick succession in the area.
The court heard Banner was observed by police on November 26 doing “doughnuts” in his car near the river before the fire.
Banner, a first-year apprentice mechanic at the time of his arrest, told detectives he was suffering from “anxiety and depression” after being bullied at work.
He said he was often laughed at for things he would say, and would at times cry alone in the bathroom.
Banner told detectives he would often “see red” with “anger”, and would often have to control his aggressive thoughts.
He told the court he struggled at work with the tasks he was given as he thought he could do more, and would “feel bad” if he needed help and would put his workmates behind schedule.
The court heard a witness had seen two men in their late-teens throw an old push lawnmower, which was on fire, down a gully on Dr George Mountain Road on November 11.
“I was nowhere near there,” Banner told detectives before telling them he doesn’t “hang out with anyone”.
Banner told detectives he had picked up the mower, which the court heard was the likely source of the fire, when later attending to the fire with the Tarraganda brigade, before dropping it where he found it.
Detectives told Banner, who was first to arrive at the fire shed that day, a witness had told them they saw Banner throw the lawnmower further down the hill, where it was later found by investigators.
Banner denied lighting the fire.
The trial continues.
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