Man jailed for setting fire to remote community store last year

A MAN who tried to set fire to a remote community store last year will spend the next five months in jail

A MAN who tried to set fire to the Maningrida community store last year will spend the next five months in jail.

Sam Darcy, 27, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to attempted arson starting a fire outside the shop on February 15.

The court heard Darcy went to the shop in the early hours of the morning where he set fire to items inside a wheelie bin between the shop and a takeaway restaurant.

While the bin was burning he gathered up more rubbish into a bag and went around to the front of the store where he wedged the bag between a metal security grill and some Perspex louvres.

Darcy then set the bag on fire and walked away.

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In sentencing, Justice Peter Barr said a short time later, another resident, Bradley Williams, saw the flames and drove to the store to put the fires out using a water container.

“When Bradley Williams got there, the fire at the front of the store had just taken hold,” he said.

“The Perspex louvres were sustaining the fire and it was about to increase in size so Mr Williams got there just in time.”

Despite Mr Williams efforts, the bin fire reignited after he left and this time another good Samaritan, Oliver Ankin, drove to the store and extinguished the fire.

The fire completely destroyed the wheelie bin and damaged the Perspex, with the store’s owner, the Maningrida Progress Association, seeking $385 for repairs.

Justice Barr said Darcy’s lawyer had told the court her client had had an argument with his father and brother and was in “a highly charged emotional state” at the time.

“These matters can be noted by the court, but why you chose to take out your anger and frustration on the community store is unclear,” he said.

“For example, there is no evidence that you had some grudge against the community store.”

In ordering Darcy to pay for the damage, Justice Barr said the store was “the beating heart of the community”.

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“It supplies food and basic necessities for the community, it supplies employment and training for the residents of the community,” he said.

“So the way I see it, your offending was not only against that building, it was against the whole community.

“It is indeed fortunate that one particular member of the community was able to extinguish the fire to the front of the store before it took hold in a significant way.”

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