Serial firebug Christopher Luke Finn was ‘blind drunk’ when he torched cafe umbrella while on fire-lighting rampage

A Tasmanian serial firebug, with a history of starting blazes in the north-west, will be sentenced for a spree of fires he has lit in Hobart.

A SERIAL firebug went on a fire-lighting spree through Hobart, torching a cafe umbrella, a patch of vegetation near New Town High School and a bunch of agapanthus outside the Glenorchy City Council chambers.

Christopher Luke Finn, 32, also turned over a number of tables at the Coterie & Co cafe before pulling up plants to give to the woman he was with, “because it was Valentine’s Day”.

It’s not the first time Finn has been in trouble with the law for starting fires – he has a number of previous convictions for doing so in the state’s north, including an instance in 2016 where he took part in doing $400,000 worth of damage to a workers’ club in Devonport.

On Wednesday, the Hobart Magistrates Court heard Finn had 25 pages of prior convictions and was “someone with a long history of impulsive behaviour”.

Magistrate Reg Marron heard that in December 2020, Finn was observed staggering by the creek near New Town High School, holding a bottle of alcohol.

A witness saw him walk to a small clearing, using a lighter to set fire to some scrub with both live and dead vegetation.

The fire self-extinguished despite the weather being hot, windy and dry, the court heard.

When police questioned Finn, he said he’d been “trying to catch snakes” before later admitting “he was drunk and stupid and lit a fire” and was worried he’d have to go back to jail.

About 11pm on February 15 last year, Finn said he was “blind drunk” when he was in the courtyard of Coterie & Co, upturning a number of tables and setting an upside-down umbrella on fire, doing $350 worth of damage.

Police caught up with Finn after identifying him from CCTV footage.

Then on March 9 last year about 10.45pm, Finn loitered around the rear of the Glenorchy City Council chambers before setting fire to a bunch of agapanthus, doing $100 worth of damage.

He was cautioned by police, telling them he “couldn’t remember doing it but it was something he would do”.

Finn was taken into custody in January this year after another incident in which he drunkenly turned up at his support worker’s house.

He has pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawfully setting fire to property, two counts of common assault, disorderly conduct, two counts of possessing a controlled plant and one count of possessing an opened or unsealed container of liquor in a public street.

Mr Marron heard Finn had a mild to moderate intellectual disability, was “easily led astray” and that his behaviour often arose from “boredom, frustration and stress”.

The magistrate bailed Finn to be assessed for his suitability for a home detention order.

Finn will be sentenced on May 23.

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