Kristine Mahy, 38, of Mooroopna, successfully applied for bail in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.
She is charged with criminal damage by fire, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, lighting a fire during a fire danger period, and two counts of attempted criminal damage, but no pleas have been entered to any of the charges.
Detective Senior Constable Anthony De Cicco told the court that Ms Mahy set off bug pesticide sprays throughout her Banfield Ave house, and sprayed a neighbour’s car with pesticide and tried to light it on fire on February 26 because she believed it had been “watching” her.
The court was told she also set fire to a photo frame that she had placed on top of a car in her garage.
Around 9pm that night there was a large bang and “a ball of flames erupted from the back patio” of her house, Det Sen Constable De Cicco said.
Three days later, police allege Ms Mahy set fire to her house, causing $129,000 damage to the Beyond Housing house and causing it to be demolished.
The court was told fire investigators found four points of origin in the house and two in the garage, including on two pillows, and in a toilet.
Det Sen Constable De Cicco said Ms Mahy allegedly admitted lighting the fire to three different family members.
Only days later, Ms Mahy boarded a bus, and left for Queensland.
While she was away, she attended a mental health facility for two weeks of that time, and only returned to Mooroopna on Sunday, September 13, when she was arrested.
Det Sen Constable De Cicco said Ms Mahy was a “flight risk” of leaving the state again, as well as being a risk of interfering with witnesses, with neighbours fearing she would seek retribution against them if bailed.
He also told the court police were worried she was a risk of lighting further fires after she told police on the night of the fire “this is the third time it’s happened to me”.
She also has an Australia-wide bus pass that police were concerned she would use to flee from Shepparton, Det Sen Constable De Cicco said.
Ms Mahy’s grandmother gave evidence to the court that Ms Mahy had come to her in the days after the fire.
She said Ms Mahy had been bashed and told her she needed to escape because the person who did so was going to kill her.
She said Ms Mahy was “in a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the fire”.
Ms Mahy’s defence solicitor Ibrahim Abdalla told the court of his client’s upbringing marred with abuse and that the “level of abuse” the court had heard detailed “did not scratch the surface” of what had happened to her during her life.
Mr Abdalla said Ms Mahy had limited criminal priors and no convictions in court.
He said she was experiencing mental health issues at the time and a drug psychosis, and had left the area for her own safety.
He argued that while it was a serious offence she was charged with, it would not necessarily attract a jail sentence.
Ms Mahy was bailed with conditions that she doesn’t leave Victoria, has a curfew between 9pm and 7am, does not go within 200m of Banfield Ave in Mooroopna where she used to live, and complies with the Court Integrated Services Program.
