Serial arsonist struck again while on bail

A serial arsonist who was sentenced in the Supreme Court last month for setting eight public bins on fire in one morning could be facing more time behind bars after committing the same offence while on bail. Robin Yamalulu appeared in Broome Magistrate’s Court last Monday via video link from West Kimberley Regional Prison, where he pleaded guilty to a further charge of criminal damage by fire while he was on bail last December. The court was told Yamalulu set fire to three bins that belonged to the Shire of Broome while he was on bail for setting eight bins alight nine months earlier. While he was initially charged with three counts of arson, the charge was combined into one to account for the three bins he destroyed. It was understood Yamalulu had been out on bail for five weeks before he was taken back into custody. It comes a month after Yamalulu was sentenced in the Supreme Court after spending 18 months in jail on remand. Last March, Yamalulu used a cigarette lighter to set fire to public bins in various locations within Broome’s Chinatown precinct in the early hours of the morning. The blazes occurred less than two weeks after he was placed on a conditionally suspended imprisonment order after setting fire to bins outside the Roebuck Bay Hotel and Paspaley Plaza taxi rank in 2018. Despite pleading guilty last July, Yamalulu’s mental capacity was called into question and the matter was put off pending psychological testing. During his time on remand, Yamalulu faced several hearings in which the court had to determine whether he was fit to enter pleas. The series of psychological reports obtained found Yamalulu had an extensive history of damaging property by lighting fires, which dated back to 2010. It was also found Yamalulu’s thoughts were “scattered”, which was attributed to cognitive impairments resulting from extensive and excessive alcohol consumption. He was forced to serve the suspended 12-month jail term, backdated to April 2019, before he was sentenced to a further 18 months which was backdated to April 2020, with eligibility for parole in January. In sentencing, Justice Bruno Fiannaca told Yamalulu that while bins were not particularly valuable items, they were public property and Yamalulu’s conduct caused inconvenience, forcing the Shire of Broome to spend up to $900 replacing them. Justice Fiannaca told Yamalulu the court had given him “the opportunity to change, and placed trust” in him not to commit similar offences, but that trust was broken. Yamalulu is next due to appear for a sentence mention hearing in February.