Alleged arsonist refused bail
By Paul Carter
May 05, 2005


A NEPALESE national who set fire to the altar of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney had also firebombed a travel agency after being convicted, but freed, over a similar attack on the same travel company, a court heard today.

Biswash Paudel, 34, was arrested in Hyde Park yesterday for allegedly setting fire to the altar of the cathedral hours after torching the interior of a Flight Centre office in Bathurst Street.
The cathedral fire caused $50,000 damage.

Central Local Court magistrate Allan Moore remanded Mr Paudel in custody to reappear in the same court on May 12, after the court heard of his attacks with petrol which started over a dispute about a refund for an airline ticket to Nepal.

He was also ordered to undergo further psychiatric assessment before his next court appearance.

Court documents said Mr Paudel had been in dispute with Flight Centre since March over his demand for a refund for the airline ticket, purchased in January for travel to Nepal in March.

Mr Paudel had been fighting deportation, with a visa due to expire on May 11.

When he went to Sydney Airport on March 1 and checked in for his flight he then failed to board the plane, telling airline staff he did not want to leave Australia.

Two days later, Mr Paudel poured petrol over a counter and carpet at the Flight Centre store in King Street, where he bought his ticket, after a dispute about a refund, the court was told.

A number of staff members and customers were in the store at the time, but a fire was not lit.

Mr Paudel was arrested in the store with a lighter in his pocket and sentenced late last month to 12 months' jail, suspended on condition of him entering a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Court documents revealed Mr Paudel spent time in Long Bay jail's psychiatric ward, and that before his arrest he had been a patient at St George Hospital's mental health department.

Mr Paudel was granted bail at his first appearance in court on March 4 but could not meet the conditions because he failed to find anyone to be his guarantor.

It was not until his sentencing on April 20 that a member of Sydney's Nepalese community vouched for him and he was freed from custody on the bond.

But police documents allege that on May 2 he returned with more petrol, which he poured in the King Street Flight Centre store during business hours, but again the fuel was not ignited.

Mr Paudel, who has been living at Rockdale, faces five charges, including two of maliciously destroying or damaging property with intent to endanger life over yesterday's fires.

Flight Centre spokesman John Whateley said no staff was injured in any of the attacks.

He said a fire was lit only in the Bathurst Street store, which was closed today for repairs estimated at about $10,000.

A spokesman for St Mary's Cathedral said damage to the altar would cost about $50,000 to repair, but services at the cathedral had not been disrupted.