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Disturbed, dangerous and deluded: the arsonist who won't be deterred

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There are criminals who are household names, such as Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel – the type that have appeared on page one nearly as often as a soap star during the Spring Carnival.

Then there are those who shun publicity, wisely reasoning that media attention is to police what berley is to fish – it tends to bring on a feeding frenzy that can take chunks out of you.

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Argumentative arsonist's video

A court viewed a YouTube video made by Brendan Davies who was found guilty of five counts of arson, after long and drawn-out trial.

There is a third type – the ones whose names are barely known and could walk down the street without creating either curiosity or fear.

But their lack of infamy does not reflect their risk factor. Sometimes anonymity can mask the greatest danger.

And so our attention is drawn to one Brendan Davies – a brilliant man with a photographic memory who can recall the tiniest incident from years in the past. Yet Davies, 39, a loner who has never worked, is fascinated by serial killers and appears devoted to destruction.

Tragically for him, and for us, he appears impervious to punishment, rehabilitation or medical intervention, having convinced himself he possesses a unique insight into the world and that anyone who stands in his way is part of a conspiracy against him.

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For reasons perhaps only he knows, Davies believes he is a victim; that his parents didn't raise him in a loving household and authorities should have saved him from his misery.

For years now Davies has run a one-man war against anyone and anything he feels is his enemy, or more often just for the heck of it. One of his previous (and thwarted) crime plans is so chilling police will always consider him a long-term danger to the community.

That he hasn't killed by now can only be put down to luck, because as a serial arsonist he has set fire to occupied properties – including his family home, with his mother and two brothers inside.

Far from hiding away, he took to the internet to share his bizarre rants – often appearing hidden by a black balaclava.  With his voice barely disguised he would lecture on arson, vandalism and his other peculiar interests.

Desperate for an audience, he started his own site and would join chatrooms until booted out. He would not be deterred when others declared him a "creep" or worse.

He described himself as "a tortured victim-creation of Australian society. My society has done everything wrong in the world to me. I am a highly intelligent and deeply insightful philosopher."

In one video he said: "Society has created the arsonist and has victimised them terribly. The arsonist is using arson to strike and hit his society back as a form of justice, of vengeance, his own personal justice against his society that has wronged him. Arsonists have every right to attack society because society has done everything to them."

He omitted one important point. If you want to set fire to stuff and get away with it, you should probably not post videos on arson, disguised or not. Later police would allege the methodology he discussed was the type he used in reality.

In 2010 a serial arsonist launched 12 attacks against buildings including schools, a nightclub, homes and commercial properties. By November, Davies - who had a prior history of arson and lived in the area as a child - had become a person of interest and the subject of a police surveillance operation.

They were able to track his car to the scene of five deliberately lit fires in January and February 2011, with targets including the unmanned Mount Waverley police station, two churches, a bakery and a child care centre.

He was initially charged with all 17 fires, but ultimately went to trial on the five that happened while he was under electronic surveillance. The day after he set fire to the Croxley Hall Child Care Centre he was arrested, and when detectives searched his Rowville home they found hard copy and computer notes that included disturbing details on judges, police and lawyers involved in his previous cases.

The material was considered so alarming that the names of the prosecution team and lead investigators were deleted from subsequent legal proceedings.

Police also found his shelves filled with books on serial killers and on his Facebook site he had "liked" US mass murderer Charles Manson. "It was a form of hero worship," one source said.

Indeed, in one of his random postings he declared: "I am an expert on serial killers. Serial killers are tortured victim creations of their evil lie-based societies. They have every right to undertake murder acts, and society has no right to pass judgment on them."

In the scheme of things it should not have been a difficult trial, with the prosecution using his videos to show his tendencies to arson and tracking information to show that he was at the scene of all the fires.

Then Davies sacked his lawyers and chose to represent himself.

Every judge hates a self-represented client, as the court must then protect the accused from their own inexperience and stop them implicating themselves in a legal own goal. One stupid comment can result in a mistrial and taint the defence's grounds for an appeal.

Judges expect these cases to hit a few speed bumps along the way, but County Court judge Gerard Mullaly could hardly have thought he would have to deal with an obstinate, argumentative, irrational and seemingly inexhaustible defender.

The case went to court 31 times before we were even close to a real hearing. It spent three years bouncing around in the Magistrates' Court and a further three in the County Court.  Eventually the pre-trial arguments went a staggering five months before a jury was empanelled. Then the trial went another three months over 61 sitting days.

Davies challenged every witness on everything, delayed at will and launched three failed appeals to the Supreme Court.

"He was never short of a word, and a phenomenal memory and is amazingly intelligent," one observer said.

Fairfax Media reported  some of the jurors cried and cheered with relief when they returned guilty verdicts over the five fires in November last year. But it was only in Mullaly's sentencing remarks a few months ago that you glimpse the severity of Davies' troubled past.

Since the age of 18 he has been convicted of around 40 offences ranging from stalking to weapons possession and arson (when he tried to burn down a house with his mother and two brothers asleep inside).

The most worrying was in February 2009, when his car was spotted parked outside a Blackburn brothel. When he was intercepted by police they found a large knife and - in the boot - alternative number plates, garbage bags, plastic ties, gloves, tape, rope, handcuffs and a hammer.

Clearly he was set to commit a crime, but what? Police believe he planned to abduct, rape and murder a sex worker. The theory was supported by a notebook that included instructions: "Look through her messages, find a client, SMS him from her phone, completely destroy the phone, strip her, put clothes in garbage bag, collect all jewellery and put in bag, cut her nails, place all ten clipped nails in bag, remove her teeth, put into bag or leave with body, remove all ties et cetera before disposal."

Despite the notes, he was convicted of the lesser charge of being armed with a controlled weapon with criminal intent.

Davies is a disturbed and troubled man with an autism spectrum disorder. He has effectively refused to be examined by forensic psychologists – as if he doesn't want anyone to know what is inside his head.

He claims to have had a terrible childhood and yet his mother and father (who are separated) remain supportive, turning up at court often only to be abused. He is rarely paroled as he shows no signs of reform, and serves out his full term before re-offending.

In sentencing Davies earlier this year,  Mullaly would have considered his previous behaviour, his prison record, his failure to undertake psychological assessment, refusal to engage in rehabilitation programs, and his conduct in court.

"I have formed the view based on all the evidence in these proceedings that you have a particular disdain for the justice system and a deep-set hatred of the police.

"By reason of all the evidence and the relevant factors, it is clear in my view that you are an ongoing danger to the community. The likelihood of your re-offending in the future is very high. On any realistic analysis, your prospects for reform and rehabilitation are very slim at best and most likely non-existent."

Finally Mullaly sentenced Davies to 14 years, six months, with a minimum tariff of 12 years and three months.

With typical judicial understatement he added: "I reiterate the thanks of the court to those that have worked tirelessly in respect of perhaps the most difficult case that has occurred in these courts for some time."

Davies has indicated he wishes to lodge an appeal. One thing is for certain - it will be a lengthy one.

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