A serial Sri Lankan arsonist has been jailed for burning down his sister-in-law’s Melbourne rental house because he was jealous of her husband’s cricketing achievements.
Jagath Mallikarachichi, 52, was sentenced to eight years’ jail with a five-year and three-month non-parole period in the County Court of Victoria on Thursday after pleading guilty to arson.
He made a late guilty plea after Judge Gabriele Cannon ruled his previous arson convictions – for lighting a fire at his ex-wife’s house and torching a shopping centre because he got fired as a cleaner – would be admissible evidence in front of a jury, the Star Journal reported.
The father-of-four also had prior convictions for unlawful assault, thefts, handling stolen goods and breaching intervention orders.
Mallikarachichi was drunk and wearing a hoodie when he broke into the home in Hallam at 9.10am on April 15 last year, poured petrol in the bedrooms and set it alight, destroying possessions worth $174,516, including $90,000 in cricket gear imported from India for sale in Australia.
The couple were uninsured and the blaze ruined their finances and shattered their plans of buying a home, while the property owner said it would cost $42,000 to demolish the home and another $407,000 to rebuild it.
The court heard Mallikarachichi knew the couple were on holiday in Sri Lanka at the time, was jealous of his brother-in-law’s cricket accomplishments, and had been snubbed from their wedding.
Mallikarachichi tired to argue that the arson attack was “impulsive” and caused by alcohol and ADHD, but Judge Cannon said it was clearly premeditated, and he was aware of his tendency to commit arson while drunk.
She called his offending “extremely concerning behaviour”, said his prospects for rehabilitation were “guarded” and noted he had shown little remorse.
Mallikarachchi suffered serious burns himself while setting fire to the Olive Tree Shopping Centre in Lilydale in 2014, for which he was sentenced to 3.5 years’ jail.
A court heard at the time that the disgruntled ex-cleaner sent his former employer a message saying “you just wake up a sleeping lion” before using stolen keys to break in while drunk and starting the blaze, injuring his own wrist so badly he needed skin grafts.
Header image: County Court of Victoria (By Canley – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link).
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