Convicted murderer pleads guilty to setting fire to house with man inside

Robert William Larson, 58, was on parole for the murder and living in Golden Square in August 2022 when he went to the home of a neighbour's girlfriend and a male friend, and lit it on fire, the County Court sitting in Bendigo heard.

He pleaded guilty to an arson charge for the attack on what, essentially, were strangers.

Larson is currently serving a life sentence in Marngoneet Correction Centre after his parole for the 1983 murder was revoked.

The court heard his only contact with the girlfriend had been through his neighbour, with whom Larson had had several prior disputes.

Larson had once shone a torch into the neighbour's window while the girlfriend was present, and once when she was leaving the home Larson told her, "you could do better than that".

The girlfriend lived nearby with a friend and in the early hours of August 30, 2022, Larson was seen near the house by a passerby.

Larson was seen driving towards her address on August 29 before he went to the Golden Square weatherboard home with natural firelighters and a lighter.

The court heard he lit wood under a front window on fire.

A member of the public saw the verandah "burning orange" and grabbed a bucket of water to put it out.

He saw Larson's car parked nearby, which drove away and then back to the house, before Larson stumbled out of his car, "swaying and not walking straight".

Larson then appeared to approach the house where the fire had started with a lighter.

The member of the public who had put the fire out then called Triple Zero.

The girlfriend had not been home but a male housemate was sleeping inside, only waking when police arrived.

Police found Larson lying in the front yard where he was handcuffed while "heavily intoxicated".

A blue lighter was also found nearby and the remains of a natural firelighter seized.

Larson initially denied committing arson, which was a breach of his parole. He told police he had car trouble and had to park the car near the victim's house.

The male housemate said in a victim impact statement that sleeplessness had been the biggest side-effect of the attack.

"A random stranger tried to incinerate me for no reason," his statement read.

His statement said he had been scared Larson would "come back and finish the job".

"I don't know the man but I hate him," the victim said.

"I've never had anything to do with him. I'm sure he was going to kill me, burn me to death. If someone didn't notice him I could be dead."

The victim said after waking from a deep sleep on August 30, 2022 he initially thought there was a party but soon realised it was police at the home.

He said he felt "violated" and "had done nothing to deserve it".

The court heard Larson was first released on parole in 1995 at 29, after he was convicted of murder as a young man and given a life sentence.

He was then convicted of common law assault in 2005 and spent five months in prison followed by four months suspended.

He had a further five months of prison time imposed for matters 2010.

From 2010 until 2017 he was in custody as his parole had been revoked, in combination with other sentences.

He was last released on May 29, 2017 and was back on parole at the time of the arson.

Judge Mark Gamble said the use of firelighters represented "premeditation" while returning to the house after the initial arson showed "at least a degree of persistence".

Judge Gamble said he would sentence Larson on March 25.

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