A man who set a fire in a U.S. government office has been set to be released from prison sometime this week. Despite concerns after his mental welfare, the man vowed before the judge that he would be starting a fire again.
Reported by ABC, Donald Roy Lonsdale was the man who tried to burn down the Legal Services Commission office back in August 2011. According to reports, the man walked to the office carrying petrol with the intention of burning down the office completely. The reason why he wanted to burn down the office was because he was not able to get legal assistance to fight a charge he had against assaulting a police officer.
When the event occurred, Lonsdale was reported to have told staff to stand back before he started splashing the two-stroke mixture onto the front counter of the office. On Adelaide Now, Lonsdale was reported to have set the counter on fire using a cigarette lighter.
Later on, Lonsdale was arrested and charged with arson. During his sentencing in September 2013, he kept on interrupting Judge Simon Stretton for over 40 times. The 46-year-old man was said to have referred to the judge as a "d-khead." In addition to this, Lonsdale vowed that he would go to a service station upon his release and go back to the commission so he could set it on fire once more. He pleaded guilty to the charge filed against him and received a sentencing of three years and three months of jail time.
More recently, Lonsdale faced District Court Chief Judge Geoffrey Muecke who warned him he could face up to 15 years in prison for his crime. The judge expressed concern about the promise Lonsdale made of trying to burn down the office once again when he gets released. Moreover, he was concerned that the man would not get enough support when he is set free.
Lonsdale however replied that "there wasn't any support in prison." He also believes that he shouldn't have gone to jail in the first place. Lonsdale says that they "should have a legal system in the first place that follows the law. It's corrupt. Like I said to the earlier judge, I don't give a shit if I'm a sacrificial lamb. F**k the law."
Because of his threats of repeating his crime, the judge decided to extend the sentencing of Lonsdale for another 10 months.
