Alice Springs woman jailed for setting town camp home on fire with ‘terrified’ children inside

After two children desperately tried to put a deliberately-lit house fire out, the angry and ‘extremely drunk’ 37-year-old arsonist threatened to ‘come back and get them’.

A court heard Julianne Malbunka was extremely drunk when she tried to set fire to her own home with two children inside. Picture: Jason Walls

A woman who tried to burn the house down with two terrified children inside before threatening to “come back and get them” has been jailed for three years.

Julianne Malbunka, 37, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to arson after setting fire to the building in an Alice Springs town camp on April 21 this year.

The court heard she was one of several people living at the house, including two children aged 13 and 14, when she went on a bender and got “extremely drunk”, before returning home at about 8am.

Malbunka went to a bedroom where the two teenagers were sleeping and knocked on the door, yelling that she was “going to burn the house down”.

One of the children opened the door and saw Malbunka trying to set fire to a shirt with a blue cigarette lighter.

The child tried to take the lighter from her but she “hit her hands away” before managing to ignite the shirt and throwing it onto a mattress, which also caught fire, and then also using it to set the curtains on fire.

Sentencing judge, Sonia Brownhill, said the two children then tried to put the fire out by throwing a bowl of water on it but were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the commotion woke a man who also lived at the house, who ran out and met the children in the front yard while fire crews extinguished the fire, which ultimately caused almost $60,000 in damage to the property.

Justice Brownhill said Malbunka told police she was “drinking and tired and wanted to go to sleep” and “got angry” when the children would not come to the door to let her in.

“After your arrest, you threatened the children that you would come back and get them,” she said.

In suspending Malbunka’s sentence after one year, Justice Brownhill said while she had admitted to having a problem with alcohol and was “ashamed of the choices you have made”, “being drunk and angry is not an excuse for your actions”.

“One of the children tried to stop you, but you persisted,” she said.

“It must have been a terrifying experience for the people in the house, particularly those children who had to try and put out the fire.

“This was a home occupied by other people, including children and at least one person who was asleep.”

On her release, Malbunka will be required to attend the Alternative to Custody program in Alice Springs as well as residential rehab.