An arsonist who set a Legal Services Commission office alight has had his jail sentence extended for threatening to do it again.
A man who set the Adelaide Legal Services Commission office alight back in 2011 has had his jail sentence extended by 10 months after he threatened to do it again.
Donald Roy Londsdale, 46, was at the front court of the commission’s Wakefield Street office when he doused it with petrol and set it alight.
He pleaded guilty in September 2013 to damaging property by fire and was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, according to a report by the ABC.
The judge sentenced him to a non-parole period of two years before Lonsdale told the court that he would prefer to serve his whole sentence and “do the full whack”.
“If I get out, I’ll be going to the service station and the Legal Services Commission,” Lonsdale said.
He was charged with threatening to damage property and pleaded guilty, a crime Chief Judge Geoffrey Muecke said could mean up to 15 years in prison. But Muecke added 10 months to Lonsdale’s sentence, saying Lonsdale did not intend to carry out the threat or that he intended to arouse fear that the threat would be or was likely to be carried out.
“But rather, you were recklessly indifferent as to whether such a fear was aroused,” Mueck said.
The additional 10 months on Lonsdale’s sentence was backdated to last May last year, meaning he will be eligible for parole later this month. Muecke said that he was concerned that Lonsdale had not received the support he needed and is concerned he may not get enough support when he is set free.
“You have only this morning mentioned that you are going to apply for a retrial,” Muecke said.
“You have not had a trial. You pleaded guilty. You can appeal my sentence and you can appeal on the basis that you should not have pleaded guilty because you misunderstood the charge.
“I do not accept that you misunderstood the charge, but I do acknowledge that if you are not maintained on medication, you may get the wrong end of the stick, if I can put it that way.”
“What do you expect?” Lonsdale asked the judge.
“There isn't any [support] in prison. I've been in prison on lies told to the court by the prosecution,” he said.
“You can't just go and throw people behind bars on lies and expect them to put up with it?
“I shouldn't have gone to jail in the first place. We should have a legal system in the first place that follows the law. It's corrupt. Like I said to the earlier judge, I don't give a shit if I'm a sacrificial lamb. F**k the law.”
Muecke said he might maintain a rage after being released and encouraged him to remain on the medication he is taking in prison.
