Brendan James Sokaluk jailed for Black Saturday fire that killed 10 people

BRENDAN Sokaluk, a former volunteer firefighter who killed 10 people in the Churchill fire, has been sentenced to a minimum term of 14 years.

Brendan Sokaluk

BLACK Saturday arsonist Brendan James Sokaluk, a former CFA volunteer who killed 10 people in the Churchill fire, has been jailed for 17 years and nine months with a minimum term of 14 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

Sokaluk, 42, a long-time Churchill resident, had earlier been found guilty by a jury of lighting the massive blaze when he deliberately threw lit paper from his vehicle into a eucalyptus plantation on the 46.3C day.

The February 7, 2009 blaze took hold in winds reaching more than 70km/h and blew out to a front of more than 15km, threatening several towns, destroying 156 homes, a community hall, 36,000 Ha and killing 10 people.

In sentencing Sokaluk for 10 counts of arson causing death, Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan said this afternoon that setting punishment for the arsonist was an extremely difficult task, given Sokaluk's borderline mental impairment and diagnosed autism.

Justice Coghlan said he accepted Sokaluk did not intend to kill, but he found that Sokaluk would have appreciated his actions would have at least caused property damage.

"Death from natural disaster would be awful enough," Justice Coghlan told the court, which was filled with relatives of those who died.

But to know the fire was sparked deliberately would be exceptionally hard to accept, he said.

Justice Coghlan said the law did not seek to place a value - in terms of sentence length - on each life lost due to a crime.

"Any sentence I impose could in no way compensate for their loss," he said.

Sokaluk, dressed in a green shirt and with black-greying hair, looked impassively at the court ceiling as the sentence was passed.

Outside court the relative of Black Saturday victims Rhonda Jacobs said justice had been served, but it ididn't change the fact her family had been torn apart.

Ms Jacobs lost her brother Alan, sister-in-law Miros and nephew Luke in the fire.

“For our part it is not about hate, revenge or reprisals,” she said in a statement prepared by her father.

“Justice has been done and seen to be done, and for that we are very grateful.

“Even though sadly, for us, not a lot changes. We are without our much loved family, and we still have a grandson without a mother, father or brother.

“Our deepest thoughts and empathy are extended to the other people who have lost loved ones, homes and property due to the terrible bushfires of 2009.”

Ms Jacobs said her family extended their thanks to emergency services and legal teams who worked throughout the case.