Darwin River firey jailed for seven years after breaching ‘sacred trust’ in lighting up 800ha of bushland

A Darwin River firey who lit up the equivalent of 1700 football fields of bushland in the Rural Area has been jailed for seven years after breaking the ‘sacred trust’ placed in him by the community and his colleagues.

Mike Holden’s mother Maxine Holden outside the Darwin Local Court in 2018 after pleading guilty to crossing double white lines in a crash that killed 16-year-old Xavier Lengyel.

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A DARWIN River firey who lit up the equivalent of 1700 football fields of bushland in the Rural Area has been jailed for seven years after breaking the “sacred trust” placed in him by the community and his colleagues.

Volunteer firefighter Mike Holden pleaded guilty to 18 counts of setting bushfires between May 2018 and September last year which destroyed more than 800ha or bushland and threatened lives and property.

The Supreme Court heard one of the fires, lit opposite the Berry Springs Primary School on September 13, took other fireys almost two days to put out and caused $28,000 dollars in damage.

“Due to the intensity and rapid spread of this fire, Berry Springs school was evacuated and extensive resources were required to control that fire due to the immediate risk posed to life and property in the fire’s path,” Justice Jenny Blokland said.

“Police were called to assist with emergency public safety, particularly with the failure to evacuate the Berry Springs After School Care centre which left many parents distressed and anxious — fortunately, as with the other fires, there was no loss of life.”

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In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, Bushfires NT executive director Collene Bremner said she “became extremely anxious and distressed for the safety of staff and volunteers exposed to ongoing danger” due to the fires.

“She sees you as having broken the sacred trust of the community and of your peers, she describes profound detriment to volunteers and professional firefighters,” Justice Blokland said.

Holden was also convicted of stealing two generators from his employer, Kennards Hire and police recorded him asking his mother to “hide them in the scrub” on a phone tap in place as part of their investigation into the fires.

Justice Blokland said locals were already “angry towards” his mother, Maxine Holden, after she was involved in a crash which killed 16-year-old Xavier Lengyel in 2018, when she agreed to help her son evade a search warrant in December last year.

“Can you go down to Cindy’s right now and clean out my HiLux? There’s coppers coming right now,” he told her.

“They’re not after generators, they’re after matches.”

In setting a non-parole period of four years and six months, Justice Blokland said Holden was “motivated by revenge or a bizarre form of payback” in starting some of the fires, while he was seeking an “adrenaline rush” in others.

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“It was bizarre conduct but not unheard of that as a firefighter you engaged in starting the fires that were then required to be extinguished,” she said.

“In some instances you participated in extinguishing the very fires you deliberately lit.”

Justice Blokland agreed to lift an order suppressing the publication of Holden’s name after accepting submissions from the NT News on Thursday.

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