A CESSNOCK man who sparked four fires in bushland bordering Fassifern railway station on a hot afternoon in January has been jailed for more than two years in Toronto Local Court.
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Andrew Rodney John Merrick, 25, of Mount Hall Road, got off a train at the railway station about 5.30pm on January 3 and headed west into the bush.
He climbed a hill, trudged along a dirt road and got to work; hastily sparking four separate fires using 22 points of ignition.
Staff at the railway station noticed the smoke and called triple-zero.
Fire crews arrived and extinguished the blazes before they could really take hold.
And as well as lighting the fires, Merrick was spotted by staff tossing stolen bank cards and other identification into a bin on the platform at Fassifern railway station.
An examination of the fire ground revealed aerosol cans and what looked like a jerry can among the charred and blackened ground.
But Merrick was gone.
The Financial Crimes Squad's Arson Unit began investigating and launched Strike Force Wollybutt, arresting Merrick at Victoria Street Railway Station at East Maitland a week after the fires.
The next day, in Maitland Local Court, Merrick pleaded guilty to intentionally causing fire and being reckless as to its spread and two stolen goods charges and the matter was set down for sentence four days later, a rapid evolution for an offence that carries a maximum of 21 years in jail.
But instead of being sentenced in January, Legal Aid solicitor Hannah Bruce raised concerns about Merrick's mental "capacity" with Magistrate Alan Railton and the matter was adjourned.
Police who charged Merrick had noted in a bail determination form that "the accused appears to have a cognitive disability although he has not been formally diagnosed".
Ultimately, Merrick adhered to his guilty pleas and on Friday Magistrate Railton jailed him for two years for lighting the fires. Merrick, who was on a good behaviour bond, was jailed for an extra month for receiving stolen goods.
He will be eligible for parole in February, 2021.
Unfortunately for Merrick, the State Crime Command's Arson Unit was already in the area on the day he sparked the fires at Fassifern, investigating a separate spate of blazes sparked in bushland at Teralba.
A 17-year-old NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer was charged over two fires at Teralba and a blaze that was sparked in Archery Road, Wakefield, about six kilometres west of Fassifern railway station, the day after Merrick lit his fires.
