A Bellambi man will remain behind bars amid accusations he set fire to the front of his ex-girlfriend's unit on Monday night, causing more than $20,000 worth of damage.
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Police will allege the woman identified 38-year-old Adrian Lee Ping and his distinctive "plaited rat's tail" hair through a peephole in the front door of her North Wollongong unit, just moments before she heard a large bang, then immediately saw flames.
The fire alarm activated, causing the complex's emergency sprinklers to start.
Firefighters arrived on the scene to discover a five metre patch of burned wall on the left side of the woman's unit - alleged to have been started by the use of kerosene.
Police evacuated the building as a precaution.
Officers spoke to the victim, who told them she and Ping had been in a relationship for three years, which ended in 2017, and she had since begun seeing another man.
In a statement provided to police, she allegedly said Ping had expressed a desire to "petrol bomb" her unit a few days before the incident.
Ping was arrested on Tuesday morning while reporting on parole and charged with damaging property by fire.
He was remanded in custody and faced Wollongong Local Court later that day that afternoon, where he vehemently denied the allegations.
Defence lawyer Danny Lagopodis entered a plea of not guilty on Ping's behalf and questioned the strength of the police case against him, saying Ping had a solid alibi for the time of the fire.
"He was at the sister and mother's house of the alleged victim, at Bellambi; he was nowhere in the vicinity of this premises at the time," Mr Lagopodis said.
"He's provided DNA swabs, he's given police his clothing for forensic examination.
"He categorically says he was not there ... he says he has nothing to hide and is completely innocent of this charge."
Mr Lagopodis applied for bail on Ping's behalf however Magistrate Gabriel Fleming refused to release him from custody, noting he had a multiple prior convictions for domestic violence on his record.
Court documents said the fire caused more than $20,000 worth of damage.
The case will return to court next month.
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