A MAN who allegedly firebombed a Cohuna tobacco shop has been refused bail by the Supreme Court.
The third attempt at freedom by Justin Carthy, 37, from Hoppers Crossing, was rejected because of the “exceedingly serious” nature of the alleged offences, which have been linked to Melbourne’s ongoing tobacco war.
An application for bail was refused after the alleged incident, on the basis of an unacceptable risk that the applicant would endanger the safety or welfare of a person.
Further unsuccessful applications for bail were made in Mildura Magistrates’ Court in August and November last year. On each occasion, bail was refused for the same reason.
In his ruling on February 4, Justice Andrew Tinney said Mr Carthy had a significant criminal history and poor record of complying with both bail and community correction orders.
He revealed Mr Carthy was released on bail just four weeks before he allegedly drove six hours to Cohuna to torch the store in July 2024.
An estimated $1.5m damage was done to the tobacco shop and two neighbouring businesses.
At the time of the alleged arson, Mr Carthy was also subject to a community corrections order related to previous offending in 2023.
Despite Mr Carthy’s mother putting up a surety of $10,000 and a place to live and his sister offering him a job in her cleaning business, Justice Tinney said his risk of reoffending was too high.
Police informant Detective Senior Constable Matthew Watts from the Luna Taskforce argued that the risk was too great to grant bail given the serious nature of the alleged offending and its link to Melbourne’s ongoing fatal tobacco wars.
“This matter is part of the wider tobacco wars … which have seen significant risks to members of the public, including a fatal shooting that occurred earlier this week of Sam (The Punisher) Abdulrahim, who was widely known to be involved in the tobacco wars,” Senior Constable Watts said.
The court heard that while Mr Carthy was not directly linked to the tobacco wars, his co-accused had allegedly been captured on CCTV shortly after the Cohuna fire with “a very well known organised crime entity involved in the ongoing tobacco conflict”.
“The offending alleged against the applicant is exceedingly serious,” Justice Tinney said.
“The arson carried out upon the shop in Cohuna was well-planned, effective, and carried out allegedly as part of a wider criminal enterprise in the context of an ongoing war in the illicit tobacco trade.
“A substantial amount of damage was caused, and this style of offending is unfortunately very common in the community at this time.
“I consider that the offending was very dangerous, and posed a real risk to the safety of members of the community, including firefighters.”
At a committal mention held in Mildura on November 20, 2024, the committal hearing was set down for hearing in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on May 22 this year.
It is expected the matter may not come on for trial until sometime in 2026.
