A man has been cleared of criminal responsibility for a fire he started that killed three people at an inner-city Sydney boarding house after a judge accepted he was experiencing a psychotic episode.
Richard Hotoran, 46, used petrol to ignite the fire that rapidly engulfed the property on Newtown's Albermarle Street in the early hours of March 15, 2022.
There were little means of escape for the 11 residents asleep inside the building and three were killed.
But NSW Supreme Court judge Helen Wilson on Friday ruled Hotoran could not face trial for his actions due to his mental state preventing him from being able to tell wrong from right.
He told psychiatrists after being arrested he was hearing "aggressive inner voices" in his head and emanating from televisions, instructing him to burn the boarding house down.
In delivering the verdict, Justice Wilson said it was likely Hotoran had been chronically and seriously ill for around two decades and at the time of starting the fire he was entirely untreated.
"There was no motive (or) reason in what he did, other than that which he gave to the doctors - being that he gave in to the persistent voices that he was not able to ignore," she said.
"In relation to each of the charges before the court, the acts have been proven but the accused is not criminally responsible for them."
Justice Wilson assured the victims' families Hotoran would remain under supervision in a custodial setting for the near future and probably the long-term.
Hotoran pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder over the deaths of Pankaj Kumar, 58, Alric Vokal, 40, and Peter John Greenwood, 72, who all died in the blaze.
He also denied further charges relating to Ronald Serich, 79, who suffered serious injuries after jumping out of a first-storey window to escape the fire, and another man, who broke a rib when blown clear of the building as the petrol ignited.
Hotoran turned himself in to police on the same day as the blaze and admitted starting the fire.
Prior to delivering the orders, Justice Wilson acknowledged it was unlikely the families of those who died in the fire would feel an adequate outcome had been achieved.
She said ordinarily the crime would have attracted a "very significant" period in prison for the perpetrator if mental health were not a factor.
"I hope that they can understand that the courts don't criminally punish the mentally ill (because) they can't understand the nature of what they've done," Justice Wilson said.
Forensic psychiatrists Adam Martin and Richard Furst concluded Hotoran was likely experiencing auditory hallucinations and could not reason that what he was doing was wrong.
Both experts believed Hotoran was likely suffering from a chronic psychotic illness that was not the temporary result of ingesting a substance, despite him also having a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
