A former CFS volunteer who deliberately lit several bushfires in the Adelaide Hills has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, with a non-parole period of nine years.
Gregory John McGannon was charged after fires destroyed two homes and burnt 2,700 hectares of land near Cherry Gardens on a day of extreme heat in January 2021.
In September last year, McGannon a former volunteer firefighter of 30 years, was found guilty of seven counts of causing a bushfire and one count of driving dangerously to escape police.
District Court Judge Emily Telfer today handed down a 13-year sentence for the fires and added 12 months for the aggravated dangerous driving offence, backdated to January 2021.
The court previously heard he was drunk when he started the fires, and residents who were impacted by the crisis previously told the court of their grief and terror at seeing their homes and land destroyed.
Victims today wiped away tears as they listened to Judge Telfer read out her sentencing.
“I am unable to reach any real conclusion about why you did what you did,” Judge Telfer said.
Judge Telfer said she did not accept the defence’s position that McGannon had not intended to cause bushfires.
She said it was her position that “a fire burning out of control in the hills was precisely what you intended”.
“It was not unavoidable, it did not need to happen,” she said.
The maximum penalty for starting a bushfire is 20 years imprisonment, while the maximum for driving dangerously to escape police pursuit is five years.
McGannon will be eligible for parole in January 2030.