Two brothers who set a Shepparton home alight while three people were asleep inside are facing the prospect of jail.
Liam Mitchell Brown, 27, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty the Koori Court division of the County Court to charges of reckless conduct endangering people, arson and making a threat to inflict serious injury, while his brother Luke Anthony Brown, 34, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering people.
Both also pleaded guilty to a summary charge of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The court heard the brothers both went to an Olympic Ave home shortly after 7.45am on July 5, 2020, where Liam used a propane blowtorch on a television in a bedroom while one of the house’s occupants slept only metres away.
In video footage shown to the court at the start of the plea in Shepparton County Court in April, Luke stood with Liam as Liam held the blowtorch to the television, attempting to ignite it.
The court was told Liam then went to the front bedroom of the house — which no-one was in at the time — and set a fire there.
Two men and one woman who were asleep in the house at the time were only woken by a neighbour after they saw smoke coming from the house.
The three escaped uninjured, but the house had to be demolished.
Liam’s barrister David Rofe said his client was exposed to drugs while relatively young, and when Liam and Luke’s mother died not long before the fire, he used MDMA and alcohol for days.
Judge Arushan Pillay said he would “not be able to find beyond reasonable doubt” that Liam had the blowtorch with him when he entered the house.
Legal argument then revolved around whether the judge found Liam’s actions with the blowtorch “spontaneous” after he found it in the house, which Mr Rofe had argued.
Prosecutor Charlotte Duckett said both men entered the house “having made it clear that what they were doing was some form of retribution” and Liam’s actions could not be considered to be “spontaneous”.
“He tries to burn the television in a bedroom where someone is asleep, then sets fire to a bedroom, and a power pole outside,” she said.
Mr Rofe told the court Liam had ADHD and Tourette syndrome and while they did not directly cause the offending, they may explain his offending on the day.
He also said his client was “somewhat substance-affected” on the day.
Luke’s barrister Daniel McGlone argued that Luke’s involvement in the matter was “that his brother elected to do something stupid” and that Luke “stands by and lets it happen”.
Mr Rofe asked that Liam be sentenced to a straight prison sentence of less than 12 months.
Mr McGlone asked for his client to either receive a large fine for the matter, or what he termed as his “ultimate position” a straight prison sentence that was less than 12 months and less than Liam’s because of his “lower criminality” in the offending.
Ms Duckett, however, argued against the imposition of a fine, saying it was “inconceivable” for “something so dangerous”.
The Browns will both be sentenced in September.