Leo Nicholas Eliadas was charged with knowingly being part of a criminal group in the ACT between September 2013 and December 2014.
He allegedly deliberately set fire to Brierly’s Cafe at Weston on 13 March, 2014.
Surveillance footage of the alleged arson attack was released by police and showed a man smashing a hole in the door of the cafe.
The footage showed the man pouring accelerant before setting it alight and running away.
The fire caused extensive damage to the cafe.
Eliadas has also been charged with recruiting another man to help carry out a criminal activity, dealing with $75,656 that was intended for criminal purposes and 11 counts of dealing with false identification intended to help someone commit an indictable offence.
The court heard Eliadas had been granted police bail on the arson charge but had breached his bail reporting conditions. Eliadas’ lawyer said he worked as a truck driver and had failed to report to police because he was driving to Sydney.
He asked for the bail conditions to be changed to better work around his employment. Magistrate Maria Doogan said she found it “disturbing” that Eliadas had been given police bail on an arson charge instead of being brought before the court sooner.
“Arson’s a strictly indictable offence,” she said.
“Matters like this should be brought before the court.”
But she continued his bail and granted the requested changes to his bail conditions. The matter was adjourned to return to court on 2 February.
Source: ABC