An Albion Park teenager set fire to two garbage bins in Crown Street Mall during a boozy night out before he headed to a nearby nightclub, leaving firefighters to douse the flames, a court has heard.
Christopher Stephen Borjeson dropped a burning object into two separate bins in the mall, causing flames, dark clouds of smoke and damage to the bins before firefighters arrived and extinguished the fires, Wollongong Local Court was told yesterday.
The 19-year-old, affected by alcohol at the time, told police he had little memory of the "stupid" arson and could not recall setting the second fire.
Fining the teen yesterday, Magistrate Ian Guy noted the offence was yet another example of drunken behaviour in the mall.
"It is not a minor matter . . . [it is another case of] antisocial behaviour in the early hours of the morning in this area, which is well known for this type of behaviour, where young people affected by alcohol damage other people's property," he said.
Borjeson was walking through the mall with several other men about 1am on June 8 when he approached a bin with a bag of rubbish resting against it, the court was told.
The teen stopped next to the garbage and set alight an object and dropped it on top of the rubbish pile and walked away.
The bag caught fire, causing flames to quickly leap from the rubbish and damage the bin.
Borjeson then walked up to another bin in the mall, set alight some rubbish and walked away.
Firefighters arrived a short time later and extinguished the flames, the court was told.
Mall security tracked Borjeson to Keira Street's OneFiveOne nightclub where police spoke to him.
Borjeson, who pleaded guilty to two counts of maliciously damaging property by fire, later paid compensation for the damaged bins.
Defence solicitor Jeff David told the court Borjeson had no specific recollection of what he had done but accepted his role in the offences.
He was fined $1000.
