Beaumaris childcare centre arson: Andrew Wyett jailed for Kids Company gas cylinder fire
A Beaumaris childcare centre owner was left heartbroken after a bitter man randomly blew up her centre with a stolen gas cylinder because he was angry with his ex-wife.
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A bitter ex-husband randomly blew up a Beaumaris childcare centre with a stolen gas cylinder because he was angry his ex-wife wouldn't let him see his kids.
Crown Casino gambling counsellor Andrew Wyett stole the 9kg cylinder from a cafe opposite Kids Company Childcare Centre on June 30, 2018.
Wyett, who lived on top of a shop next door to the cafe, smashed a window of the unoccupied centre, threw the cylinder inside, opened the valve and struck a match in a random act of vandalism a judge described as reckless and illogical.
Wyett’s actions left a $226,000 damage bill that forced owner Beverley Jennings to close the Tramway Parade centre she had run for 32 years.
Wyett attempted to cover his tracks by hiding his clothes, but CCTV footage from the cafe linked him to the arson attack.
He was arrested the next day when he told police his wife had applied for full custody of their children and he was “angry and frustrated” with the arrangements.
He told the police he knew the centre was empty and he wouldn’t have set fire to it had people been inside.
Ms Jennings said she had been in the centre earlier that night doing bookwork.
Wyett, 43, was sentenced in the County Court on October 17 to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to arson and theft.
The court heard Wyett had no connection to the childcare centre other than he lived across the road.
Judge Rosemary Carlin said it was irrelevant the centre had been empty at the time as the offending was still “serious”.
“Your state of conclusion was clearly wrong,” she said.
“I accept that you believed that no one would be inside the centre at the time that you set fire to it.
“However, I am satisfied that at the very least you were reckless as to whether the centre was vacant or not.
“As the childcare centre was in a populated area you were also reckless as to the wider danger posed by your actions to nearby property and persons.”
In her victim impact statement, Ms Jennings said staff were laid off and the “community lost a childcare centre”.
She described her heartache of losing the centre after 32 years because she did not “feel capable of reopening after such a disruption at her age”.
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Judge Carlin said there was no “logical reason” why Wyett targeted the centre.
The court heard Wyett was sleep-deprived because he was studying at university in the lead up to the arson.
He had been working and still worked as a gambling counsellor for Crown Casino after he torched the centre.
He separated from his wife in 2014.
Judge Carlin found Wyett had “good prospects” of rehabilitation but disagreed with his counsel that a community corrections order was a sufficient punishment.
Wyett was jailed for ten months but was also ordered to undertake a 12 month CCO when released.