Man set rental house on fire because he ‘wanted a new one’, court hears
A MAN who deliberately set fire to his rental property in a drunken rage has faced court
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A MAN who deliberately set fire to his rental property in a drunken rage had thought about committing the act for five years because “he wanted a better one (house)”, a court has heard.
Eric Fly, 31, from Ltira Outstation about 30km south of Hermannsburg, pleaded guilty to arson in the Supreme Court after he doused his bedroom floor with fuel and made a trail to the front door before he set it alight on August 30, 2019.
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The house is owned by the Aboriginal Land Trust and managed and maintained by the Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre.
The court heard Fly set fire to the house he rented with his partner Stephanie Rawson and their son after he drank a bottle of rum and had a jealousy-fuelled argument with his partner.
Fly checked the house, which was destroyed, first to make sure no one was inside.
When asked in a police interview why he lit the fire, Fly said the house was falling apart, he had been waiting a long time for housing repairs and he “had a plan to get rid of the house”.
Fly was calm when he gave evidence in court yesterday saying he “had to burn the house (because) the house had a lot of problems”.
The estimated cost of damage caused by the fire is more than $580,000.
Fly’s lawyer Cassandra Leonard said her client did not act with “malicious or violence but to get better housing for his family”.
“He knew it was someone else’s. He burnt it down because the house he was living in was no longer livable and he wanted a new one,” Ms Leonard said.
Fly was remanded in custody and is due to appear for sentencing on Friday.
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