The crime was so unlikely in genteel Vaucluse that locals claimed it must have been an outsider who set fire to a controversial mobile phone tower at the corner of Cambridge and Derby streets last year.
But police charged 50-year-old Derby Street resident Katherine Peterson in connection with three suspicious fires or attempted fires that engulfed her local telegraph pole since October.
The pole that was subject to attacks in Vaucluse.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
“It’s actually a Chinese box,” Ms Peterson corrected Waverley Court magistrate Ross Hudson, when he described it as an Optus telegraph pole at her bail application on Thursday.
The tower became the subject of several complaints in March last year, after Optus notified residents it planned to upgrade the infrastructure to 5G.
Ms Peterson is alleged to have approached the telegraph pole about 2.30am on October 18, 2021, and used an accelerant to set it on fire, causing $150,000 of damage. A technician called to repair the pole the following day reported the smell of kerosene, and an investigation by NSW fire services found an accelerant had been used to assist the ignition of the fire.
CCTV footage showed a woman leaving the scene on a path that tracked close to the residence in which Ms Peterson lived.
Around 8.30pm on February 15, a couple leaving their home observed Ms Peterson carrying backpacks, shortly before they noticed that the pole was on fire with flames around chest height. They called emergency services, but managed to put the fire out themselves with a bottle of water, and minimal damage was done.
An analysis by NSW fire services again detected the presence of a petrol distillate.
But it was the third attack on the pole at 5.35am on April 3 that led to the arrest. The court heard that Ms Peterson approached the pole carrying a dining chair and what appeared to be a bottle of vegetable oil. She is alleged to have placed the chair against the pole and attached a white cloth to it, which she then doused in an unknown substance before unsuccessfully attempting to set it alight.
A little over an hour later, a jogger noticed liquid on the ground and alerted the fire brigade.
The court heard that when police visited Ms Peterson’s home on Wednesday, the woman with who she lives pointed out a dining chair Ms Peterson had been carrying when she returned home three days earlier. Police also found a singlet, which Ms Peterson is alleged to have used on her head to conceal her identity.
She has been charged with damaging property by fire or explosion.
Prosecutor Maja Obirek described it as “bizarre offending” that points to underlying mental health issues, though these were not claimed by Ms Peterson, who the court heard has no criminal history.
Magistrate Hudson granted bail on the condition that she visit a doctor, report to police three times weekly, adhere to a curfew and supply a character reference. She did not enter a plea and the matter will return to court on April 21.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.
Most Viewed in National
Vaucluse local charged over 5G mobile phone tower fires - Sydney Morning Herald
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment