Firefighter charged with starting 17 blazes while on bail ‘for serious sex offences’

Firefighter is charged with starting 17 blazes while out on bail ‘for serious sex offences’ and being tracked via an ankle monitor

  • A Darwin firefighter was linked to 17 bushfires due to his ankle monitoring brace 
  • He was wearing the brace as part of his bail conditions for alleged sex offences 
  • Detectives from Operation Paringa raided his home and arrested him on Tuesday

A Darwin River firefighter has been charged with starting 17 fires while out on bail for alleged sex offences.

The 27-year-old was refused bail in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday after he was allegedly linked to multiple blazes between January and September due to an ankle monitor brace he was wearing. 

The brace was to be worn as part of his bail conditions for alleged sex offences.

The fires caused extensive damage to vegetation in the area surrounding Darwin.

Detectives investigating suspicious bushfires under Operation Paringa arrested the man after raiding his home on Tuesday. 

A Darwin firefighter has been charged with starting 17 fires in the Darwin area (stock image)

The man’s lawyer said his client had fought some of the blazes that he was accused of lighting, NT News reported.

The lawyer told court the prosecution’s case was ‘obviously circumstantial’ and that he didn’t fit the typically lonely profile of an arsonist by holding a job as a mechanic and being in a relationship.

The judge refused his application after receiving 33 pages of alleged facts from data collected by his tracking device.

He said the data made the prosecution’s case ‘powerful’ and that he was a ‘great concern’ of reoffending.

The man was remanded in custody will return to court in February. 

Deliberately lighting a bushfire carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

More than 180 people have been arrested for deliberately lighting blazes across the country since the bushfire season began in September.  

The man's lawyer said his client didn't fit the description of an arsonist, as he has a job as a mechanic and was in a relationship. Pictured: a large tree log burning before a smokey backdrop in Tasmania in January

The man’s lawyer said his client didn’t fit the description of an arsonist, as he has a job as a mechanic and was in a relationship. Pictured: a large tree log burning before a smokey backdrop in Tasmania in January

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk