A Port Kembla man who deliberately set fire to a T-shirt in Wollongong Hospital last month, apparently so he didn’t have to wait in line to see a doctor, has been jailed until October.
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Boris Miodrag had attended the hospital at 7 o’clock on the evening of April 23 for a mental health assessment when he was captured on CCTV cameras using a lighter to set fire to a grey t-shirt in one of the hospital’s corridors.
He then set the burning garment down on a nearby lounge before proceeding to the main waiting area.
A nurse came across the shirt a short time later, pulling it off the lounge immediately and extinguishing it.
Hospital security were informed and contacted police.
Officers arrived about 10 minutes later to find Miodrag sitting in the waiting room.
He was identified by security guards as the culprit, police documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court said.
Meantime, a nurse approached the officers and said a psychiatrist would assess Miodrag immediately.
He was arrested about an hour later after it was determined he didn’t need psychological intervention.
Upon his arrest, Miodrag told police he’d lit the fire so he could get in to see the doctor quickly, instead of having to wait.
He was charged with one count of damaging property by fire and remanded in custody, bail refused, before pleading guilty in court last week.
In sentencing Miodrag to six months behind bars, Magistrate Mark Douglass his actions put multiple people at risk.
“A Saturday night in Wollongong hospital – I imagine there were a lot of people there,” he said.
“A real tragedy could have happened.”
He also noted Miodrag had been before the courts three times in 2015 for similar matters.
Miodrag’s lawyer said her client gave no real reason for what he’d done, other than to say he felt he needed to see a doctor.