Woman threw flaming lighter into petrol-soaked Mount Sheridan lounge room: Arson attack caught on security camera

Charmaine Thomas, 21, was caught on security camera last year when she threw a flaming lighter through a broken window one night shortly after another man tossed petrol into the lounge room, causing an explosion that significantly damaged a Mount Sheridan house.

The loungeroom of a Mount Sheridan house ignited in seconds after Thomas and a man broke a window, and threw petrol and a flaming lighter inside in February last year.

A young mother has been sentenced to three years jail over a fiery attack on a Cairns home last year that was captured on security camera.

During the sentencing in Cairns District Court, Crown Prosecutor Peter Ah Gee played the security camera footage showing Charmaine Thomas, 21, smashing a window with a club, waiting while a man threw petrol through the broken window, then tossing in a flaming lighter at the Kelpie Close, Mount Sheridan address.

The sound of an explosion and shattering glass could then be heard on the video before the lounge room flared and the pair speedily reversed down the driveway, and left.

The arson attack was captured on security cameras with the footage - less than a minute long - played to the court during Thomas’s sentencing.

Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of arson over the February 19, 2024, attack and to a count of contravening a police order about a digital device for failing to reveal a passcode or open a device.

Judge Ian Dearden told the woman he once helped to build a house as a young man and had a good idea of the “work, effort and money” that goes into its construction.

“The offence is particularly disturbing … with some petrol and a lighter thrown through the smashed window, it exploded and … it must have caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage, all in a split second – the video was not more than a minute.”

Damage from the house fire lit by Thomas was described in court as “catastrophic”. File picture

Judge Dearden said the crime could have been a lot worse and, although no one was home at the time, he said Thomas would not have known as there were cars parked outside the house.

The court was told a television in the lounge room had “melted entirely” during the fire, windows blew out and there was significant fire and smoke damage to the walls, roof, couch and entertainment unit in the house.

Mr Ah Gee said the exact financial extent of damage was not disclosed by the complainant.

“The damage was catastrophic and penetrated every part of the house,” Mr Ah Gee said.

Defence barrister Rachelle Logan said Thomas was 19 at the time of the offence and had given birth to a daughter while waiting in prison on remand.

She said Thomas had a difficult childhood and issues with drugs before she found out she was pregnant.

Thomas, who has had a baby while in custody on remand, is determined to stay clean and make a better life for her child, the court was told. Picture: Brendan Radke

“She is clean now and wants to stay clean to give her child a different upbringing to her own,” Ms Logan said.

She said Thomas had completed a number of education training courses, and accessed significant support and services while in prison.

Judge Dearden urged Ms Logan to continue learning, and said he was structuring the sentence to help her to access the support she will need to stay clean when she was released from prison.

Judge Dearden took into account that she had already served 14 months in prison on remand and sentenced her to three years with an immediate parole release date.

He said he took into account her timely guilty plea, young age, efforts at education and rehabilitation, and the time she had already served, noting that he would otherwise have sentenced her to four and a half years.

Originally published as Woman threw flaming lighter into petrol-soaked Mount Sheridan lounge room: Arson attack caught on security camera