SA CFS volunteer sentenced for intentionally starting bushfire near Naracoorte
Country Fire Service volunteers respond to the fire in March 2024. (Facebook: Naracoorte CFS Brigade)
In short:
A bushfire in March 2024 damaged a haystack and fencing near Naracoorte.
Angus Corcoran, then 18, admitted starting it.
What's next?
He will have to serve a suspended sentence and time under Corrections supervision.
A former South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS) cadet captain and adult volunteer has been given the equivalent of a seven-month jail sentence for deliberately starting a bushfire near Naracoorte last year.
Angus William Corcoran, 20, had previously pleaded guilty to intentionally causing a bushfire, but his name was suppressed until now.
Corcoran admitted starting the bushfire at Mount Light, about 6 kilometres south-east of Naracoorte, on the evening of March 9, 2024, when he was 18.
"I did light it, but I didn't mean for it to get this big," he told SA Police in an interview the next day that was read out in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court today.
The fire burnt between 1 and 2 hectares of farmland and caused $33,000 damage to 280 hay bales, plus $6,000 damage to fencing.
Angus Corcoran winning the most improved cadet at the Naracoorte CFS Brigade in 2022. (Facebook: Naracoorte CFS Brigade)
Corcoran had already spent one year, eight months and 16 days in home detention, along with nine days in jail, which Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos calculated as equivalent to seven months in custody.
She also gave him an eight-month suspended sentence, a 12-month good behaviour bond and 12 months of Corrections supervision.
Star cadet now not a member
The court heard Corcoran joined the CFS as a cadet at 13.
The Naracoorte CFS Brigade's Facebook page shows he was its cadet captain in 2023 and its most improved cadet in 2022.
He was an adult member of the nearby Hynam brigade when he lit the bushfire.
The fire damaged hay bales and fencing. (Facebook: Naracoorte CFS Brigade)
The court was told Corcoran was no longer a member of the CFS and would never be able to return to it.
A total fire ban had been declared for the day the fire was lit, when it reached 40 degrees Celsius in Naracoorte.
A fire three days earlier threatened homes north of Naracoorte, but is not connected with the fire that Corcoran started.
Mental health a factor
The court heard Corcoran had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression before starting the fire, and autism after it.
Angus Corcoran in a photo welcoming him to the Hynam CFS Brigade. (Facebook: Hynam CFS Brigade)
Magistrate Kossiavelos said there was a "causal link" between the conditions and Corcoran starting the fire but, on the other hand, as a CFS volunteer, he should have known what damage a fire could do on such a hot day.
"I have taken into consideration that the offending was serious, it involved damage to property and it also had potential for further damage if action wasn't taken as soon as it was," she said.
"Your mental condition did play a part in relation to your conduct and I recognise that that is specifically recognised under section 11 of the Sentencing Act as a relevant factor when determining sentence but obviously that is not the only factor."
She said Corcoran was not motivated by malice or pyromania but had been lonely with his parents away and his older brother working.
"You were left isolated and you only intended a small fire, not the significant blaze that followed," she said.
She did not order Corcoran to pay compensation to the owners of the farm, Vincent and Leo Munro because, she said, of his youth and his inability to pay.