Melbourne carpenter Toby Walker pleads guilty to arson after setting Balwyn apartment balcony on fire

A Melbourne chippy set his Balwyn home on fire after believing a legion of men had stormed his apartment and stabbed him.

Toby Walker was charged with arson and meth possession.

A Melbourne man torched his balcony after he thought almost 20 men had stormed his home and stabbed his leg.

Toby Walker, 33, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to a 30-day jail term after pleading guilty to arson and meth possession.

Walker’s arson rumpus roused a fleet of firefighters and emergency services workers to his Balwyn apartment on February 17 this year.

The firebug told investigators he set the fire to his balcony to ward off a small legion of invaders Walker claimed had stormed his home.

Walker, who was on meds and had done meth that day, rang triple-0 to say he had been stabbed in the leg by “offenders” who had “entered his apartment”.

Walker claimed he set fire to the balcony to “get help” after “18 males aged in their mid-30s” entered his house.

The court heard Walker “showed” police a photo of the “offenders” in his home but the picture of the loungeroom and the flame-engulfed balcony did not contain any person.

The first of nine MFB units dispatched to extinguish the fire arrived at the Whitehorse Rd apartment just before 11pm.

Firefighters entered Walker’s apartment and extinguished the fire in tandem with firefighters who fought the blaze at street level.

Walker pleaded guilty to reckless conduct.

A third MFB unit arrived but six other units were called off after the fire had been extinguished before the trucks could arrive.

Victoria Police, which dispatched six units to the scene, searched and examined Walker’s apartment and seized two burnt out jerry cans.

Walker was also assessed at the scene by Ambulance Victoria members.

Walker, who also pleaded guilty to reckless conduct, was hauled away for questioning where he was nabbed with multiple ziplock bags of meth in his pocket.

The court heard Walker works as a carpenter.

Walker, who had served 54 days pre-sentence detention, was also convicted and placed on an 18-month community correction order.

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