NSW teen charged on holiday after bizarre alleged golf club stunt guts Goolwa South beach house
A NSW teen partying with friends during a golf trip in Goolwa South, about 85km south of Adelaide, was allegedly struck by a bizarre idea.
He allegedly wanted to light up a golf club and send it soaring through the air into the nearby sand dunes — but the half-baked stunt didn’t pan out as expected, 7NEWS reports a court heard on Wednesday.
The petrol-soaked golf club instead ignited the two-storey holiday home the teen and his mates were staying in on Bristow-Smith Ave, gutting it just after 9.30pm on Tuesday, SA Police said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Within minutes, it was just this big fireball,” witness Cooper Ward told 7NEWS.
“There was a big explosion with all glass and stuff breaking,” fellow witness Dylan Apap told 7NEWS.
The 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene and later charged with arson.
His lawyers agreed with the prosecutor, who on Wednesday told Christies Beach Magistrates Court: “It was a very silly mistake.”
The teen’s father accompanied him to court, where he is set to appear again in April next year.
Neighbours were evacuated as nine CFS firefighting crews contained the blaze, which they said was “fully involved” by the time they arrived.
“I went outside, and I could just see these huge, big flames,” local resident Amanda Bubner told 7NEWS.
Another local resident, Margaret Randall said: “It was quite frightening.”
Apap, who was working nearby at the time of the fire, said it took more than two hours to extinguish.
Damage to the destroyed holiday home came to more than $800,000, the SA Country Fire Service (CFS) said.
About 15 mates were staying in the holiday house, Apap told 7NEWS.
Ward said he overheard them outside the burning house say that “the most important thing is everyone’s alright”.
But Ward added some appeared to be more “traumatised” than others, saying: “I reckon it was one of the guy’s grandparents’ house, and he was pretty distraught.”
“They were very in shock and very hyped up, you could see that,” another witness Amanda Bubner told 7NEWS.
“He was lucky no one was killed.”
Originally published on 7NEWS
