By Jeremy Sollars
A FORMER Warwick man who helped facilitate an arson attack on a vehicle in October 2015 has been sentenced to 200 hours community service.
Robert Stewart, 20, appeared in the Warwick District Court on Thursday 10 November after pleading guilty to arson.
The court heard Stewart, then aged 19, and a juvenile co-offender who cannot be named stole a vehicle from a Warwick address on 19 October last year.
After going on a joyride the pair attempted to submerge the vehicle in the Condamine River to escape detection, but their plan went awry when the vehicle became stuck on the riverbank.
Stewart and his co-offender later returned to the scene in another vehicle, driven by Stewart, and the juvenile set fire to it with the intent of destroying fingerprint evidence.
Stewart, who currently resides in Melbourne and who travelled to Warwick for his court appearance, was sentenced by Judge Moynihan to perform 200 hours of community service in the Warwick area over the next 12 months.
The court heard Stewart, who is currently unemployed, has an older brother living in Warwick with whom he can reside while performing his community service.
He was also ordered to pay $750 in restitution to the owner of the vehicle, which was destroyed, by 30 June 2018, with Stewart’s defense counsel Robbie Williams telling the court the ‘Redbook’ value of the vehicle was in the range of $1000 to $3000.
Judge Moynihan accepted that Stewart’s criminality was limited to driving his co-offender back to the scene where the arson took place, and that the co-offender would need to pay their share of restitution if and when convicted.
The juvenile co-offender is yet to be dealt with by the courts.
No conviction was recorded against Stewart.
