Debbie Brereton wanted “a response”, not “disruption”, when she deliberately lit the 2009 fire
A court has heard of the mental and physical demise of a former RFS volunteer as she was jailed for deliberately lighting fires. The court heard how her family and community shunned her with her lawyer arguing she has already suffered enough.
The South Coast News
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A former volunteer firefighter and convicted firebug intended to “initiate a response” rather than “cause disruption” and lit fires which could be contained, a judge conceded on sentencing.
Debbie Brereton, found to be unfit for trial in May 2017, was sentenced to one year and eight months non-parole in the Downing Centre District Court today.
On June 17, Ms Brereton, of Manyana, was found guilty in a judge-alone trial of one count of intentionally causing fire and being reckless as to its spread, as well as not guilty to three further counts of the same charge.
Ms Brereton was formerly a member of the Rural Fire Service Bendalong brigade, nearby where she started the fire she is now convicted for.
The five small fires, found to be started by her, were lit on November 21, 2009.
A family was travelling towards their home near Bendalong when they observed a 50 to 100 metre fire along the track.
They recognised a car which was speeding away from the fire as belonging to Brereton.
When the man pulled up alongside the car, he saw her in the driver’s seat.
Three of the fires had to be put out by the fire brigade while the other burnt out themselves.
Although she will be eligible for release in the coming days, July 8, after being in custody since November 9 last year, the court heard the “allegations (have been) hanging over her head in one way or another for more than 10 years”.
Defence solicitor Pauline David submitted today Brereton had “suffered enough”.
From the witness box, her son told the court of his mother’s mental and physical demise since the day the first 32 fire-lighting charges were placed in 2009.
These charges were then withdrawn in 2010 and reinstated in September 2015 after she was convicted of lighting a fire on the South Coast in October 2014.
“(She’s) not quite the loving and compassionate person (she once was). It’s taken a toll on her personality and who she really was,” her son told the court.
After the 2009 charges, she was shunned by the community and her family was strained, the court heard.
Brereton was fidgety in her holding cell and cried when her son spoke.
The delay has been “somewhat disregarding of her”, Ms David told the court.
It is “unconscionable” that the defendant has had to be punished for more than ten years, Ms David continued.
Brereton has maintained her innocence since the first charges in 2009 and Judge Dina Yehia told the court Brereton “had not demonstrated remorse or contrition“.
But she also said she would place little weight on “general deterrence”, a factor considered in every sentencing, due to her extensive mental health problems.
Both legal parties made distinct arguments in regards to what her involvement in the Rural Fire Service and her understanding of the way fires burn meant.
The Crown claimed Brereton used her position in the Rural Fire Service to her advantage as an unassuming firebug.
They submitted it was “just good luck” that the fires didn’t burn further and that the community was the real victim.
The crown argued that “by its nature” the setting of a bushfire was done “without a regard for public safety”.
But the argument which Judge Yehia accepted was that the fires were lit by someone with a firm understanding of how fires burn such that they could be readily contained.
Ms David read from an expert report which said the fires were lit in areas which were readily accessible by fire crews, near tracks and roads, and contained minimal fuel loads.