Adam Troy Parker jailed for burning down Warrnambool house in drunken rage

An angry thug who punched party guests before setting a Warrnambool house on fire, killing a pet dog, has learnt his fate.

A drunk thug who threw punches at party guests before setting a friend’s house on fire and killing a pet dog will spend years behind bars.

Adam Troy Parker, 43, was sentenced in the County Court on Tuesday after he was found guilty of arson, reckless conduct endangering life and assault charges following a trial earlier this year.

The court heard the offending occurred when Parker returned to his home town of Warrnambool to attend a wedding on New Year’s Eve in 2020.

In handing down her sentence, Judge Anne Hassan described how Parker and three other guests continued partying and ringing in the new year at a Warrnambool house after the reception.

But the festivities turned sour when alcohol-fuelled arguments broke out between Parker and the others.

Adam Troy Parker, 42, was found guilty of burning down a Warrnambool home, endangering life and assault on New Year's Eve in 2020. Picture: Facebook/ Adam Parker

Parker accused one man of stealing his alcohol and punched him in the face a number of times, before striking the female host in the face when she tried to intervene.

The woman, who Parker was friends with, asked him to leave her home but he refused, claiming he couldn’t find his phone.

The court heard Parker made threats to burn her house down when she threatened to call the police.

The tension prompted the trio to leave Parker in the house – two retreated to a caravan parked in the driveway, while the woman went to a friend’s house where she called Triple-0.

Minutes later smoke started billowing from the property and flames engulfed the house.

Responding firefighters put out the blaze before finding a deceased dog in the rear bedroom.

Investigators determined the fire had been deliberately lit, with the blaze causing almost $110,000 in damage.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she had thought of Parker as “a friend” and she could not forgive his actions.

She described being “devastated” by the loss of her home and most of her possessions and struggling to buy new furniture, clothing and household goods with her Centrelink payments.

“[She] was your friend and your host on the evening in question. It is a shocking breach of trust on your part to have destroyed her home,” Judge Hassan said.

She said it was “fortunate nobody was killed” but the dog’s death was “aggravating”.

“You may not have realised the dog was in the house but this is precisely the kind of unforeseen consequence which flows from such thoughtless and dangerous behaviour,” she added.

Judge Hassan found “no explanation” for the offending, other than intoxication.

“You were intoxicated and behaved in a wholly disproportionate and irrational way to what you perceived were provocations and slights during the course of the evening … which culminated in you taking retribution for [the victim] threatening to contact the police.”

The court was told Parker, who was born in Warrnambool to a stable family, left school in Year 9.

He had worked in retail, as a cleaner and a labourer but his employment had been consistently interrupted by “regular” stints in prison.

With a lengthy criminal history, Parker has spent six and a half of the last 11 years behind bars.

The court heard he had addressed his substance abuse while on bail at a rehabilitation program late last year, but it was “regrettable” he did not do so earlier.

Parker was sentenced to seven years behind bars, with a non-parole period of five years.

His 381 days in custody were reckoned as time served.