March 5, 2013
Police have dropped nine charges against a man who had been accused of lighting unauthorised fires in the Cushnie area.
Clinton Nicholas Pascoe, from Tewantin, pleaded guilty in Murgon Magistrates Court today to the sole remaining charge, of lighting an unauthorised fire on August 20, 2012.
Pascoe first appeared in court on September 11 last year but the case was adjourned several times to allow “case conferencing” to occur between the prosecution and defence.
Case conferencing is a process designed to “facilitate the efficient and timely resolution of summary matters”.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Greg Kapernick told the court today police would offer no evidence on nine of the charges.
Pascoe pleaded guilty to the tenth charge.
Sgt Kapernick said police patrolling the Chinchilla-Wondai Road at 8:35am on August 20 last year observed a white Hilux dualcab ute parked near the intersection of Denmark Road.
As they approached, the ute quickly sped off.
They observed a freshly lit fire in long grass near where the vehicle had been parked. The fire was about 30cm in diameter and the flames were half a metre to a metre tall.
When they pulled over the ute, Pascoe had denied stopping his vehicle and denied lighting the fire.
Nambour solicitor Jason Kerr told the court Pascoe had been fighting with his wife on the morning in question.
He had stopped the vehicle to “relieve himself ” when he decided to read a note his wife had left for him. He lit up the note and “inadvertently set a grass fire”.
Mr Kerr said his client had panicked and driven off; he was remorseful for his actions.
The court was told the maximum penalty for the offence was a fine of 50 penalty units (ie $5500) or six months’ imprisonment.
Mr Kerr argued that Pascoe should be fined 10 per cent of this, ie $550 and no conviction should be recorded. He said Pascoe had no criminal history.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall said it was a serious offence and there needed to be a clear message to the community.
“This is a rural community where in August the ground is tinder dry,” Mr Bucknall said.
He said there had been a real danger to Pascoe and to others by his actions.
Mr Bucknall adjourned sentencing to 9:00am on April 9 to allow both the prosecution and defence to prepare submissions and provide sentence comparisons for him to consider.
