Jailed Shepparton man Luke Brown applies to appeal prison sentence

A locked-up Shepparton firebug who helped torch a house alongside his brother claims he was unfairly sentenced, copping an unfair share of sibling’s offending.

A motionless Go Pro catches Luke (left) and Liam Brown inside a Shepparton property, with Liam holding a blowtorch.

A jailed Shepparton firebug will argue his brother’s “separate” offending was lumped onto his when he was sentenced for helping torch a house.

Luke Brown was jailed for 18-months last year, pleading guilty to a reckless conduct endangering others charge after an incident where his brother Liam set fire to an Olympic Ave home in July 2020.

The Brown brothers were at the house at the time, with Luke “intending his presence to act as encouragement” for his brother who, court documents reveal, was seeking “retribution” on the home’s occupants.

Liam Brown was sentenced to three years and four months after he pleaded guilty to arson and threat to inflict serious injury.

A motionless Go Pro catches Luke and Liam Brown inside a Shepparton property, with Liam holding a blowtorch.

On Wednesday Luke Brown’s legal team applied at the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the 18-month prison term on the grounds that the judge erred in his sentence.

The court heard that while Brown was in the room when his brother attempted to set fire to a TV — which melted the rim of the TV — he was in a different part of the house when Liam “spontaneously” set the blaze which ultimately engulfed the property.

Crown prosecutor Raymond Gibson KC opposed Brown’s application to be able to appeal the sentence, claiming the judge was “entitled to look at the totality of the circumstances, including that the brothers entered and left together”.

But Court of Appeal Justice Terry Forrest said there was an “arguable case on appeal on specific error” made by the sentencing judge.

“The extent of his criminal conduct is confined to him assisting his brother’s efforts to set fire to a TV,” His Honour said.

“I don’t wish to diminish the seriousness but that is the extent of the conduct that constitutes (his charge). He was an accomplice ... but he does not stand to be sentenced by any conduct that (Liam) did.”

Justice Forrest granted leave to appeal the sentence, with the hearing to be heard at a later date.