A Lake Heights man accused of illegally lighting more than two dozen fires, some of which burned during January's catastrophic bushfire season, has a mental age of eight and may not have understood that what he was doing was wrong, a court has heard.
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Warren Fletcher Munday was arrested a week ago and charged with 28 counts of intentionally causing a fire and being reckless to its spread amid allegations he repeatedly set fire to furniture and other household items on a vacant, heavily vegetated block less than 100 metres from his Hilltop Avenue home.
While some of the fires happened in 2018, the majority were lit between January and August this year.
Court documents revealed a concerned neighbour put CCTV cameras up monitoring the vacant block and allegedly caught Munday in the act on several occasions.
Police will allege Munday always acted under the cover of darkness and was often seen wearing the same clothing - gumboots and shorts - in the footage.
I promise I'll never do it again - to the prosecutor, to the community, I'll never do it again. I can't stay in here your Honour.
Munday was remanded in custody after an unsuccessful bid for bail last week, however, made a fresh application for release in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Martin Zanolla presented psychological reports from 2011 and 2014 to the court in which doctors put Munday's mental functioning at that of an eight-year-old child.
"He doesn't have the cognitive ability to understand the gravity of some of his actions," Mr Zanolla said in summarising the reports.
"He didn't understand what he was doing was an offence. He has no desire to hurt the community or to commit offences.
"He now knows he can't burn rubbish in vacant lots and can't leave fires unattended."
Mr Zanolla said Munday's cousin had agreed to help keep watch over him if he was released from custody and suggested he may not end up receiving a custodial sentence if convicted of the offences due to his "diminished mental capacity".
However, Magistrate Geraldine Beattie disagreed and refused to release Munday, saying he likely faced a "substantial custodial sentence" if the crimes were proven.
"They're very serious matters," she said.
"No bail conditions can adequately mitigate the risk to community safety."
Meanwhile, Munday repeatedly interrupted the proceedings asking to be let out of jail and promising he'd"never do it again".
"I've got sheep and dogs at home....I've got rental properties," he said, before being assured neighbours were caring for his animals.
"I promise I'll never do it again - to the prosecutor, to the community, I'll never do it again. I can't stay in here your Honour."
The case was adjourned to November 4 for plea of mention.
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