A boy will face court today charged after several small fires were allegedly deliberately lit in a shopping centre in Dubbo at the weekend.
Staff responded to a small fire in a store about 3.50pm on Saturday (23 April 2022), and immediately evacuated the business.
Fire and Rescue NSW responded and examined the location; police were told the fires had been deliberately lit in four different locations.
Officers from Orana Mid-Western Police District were alerted and commenced an investigation.
Following inquiries, officers arrested a 12-year-old boy about 12.45pm yesterday (Tuesday 25 April 2022), and took him to Dubbo Police Station where he was charged with destroy property in company use fire.
The boy was refused bail to appear at a children’s court today (Wednesday 27 April 2022.
Orana Mid-Western Police District Commander, Superintendent Danny Sullivan, said incidents such as these were of great concern to police especially due to the risk they pose to shoppers.
“The staff responded quickly and appropriately and, as a consequence, everyone was evacuated safely and without injury,” Supt Sullivan said.
“The risk posed to the public by such incidents is disturbing and police treat such incidents these very seriously.
“We ask that anyone with information about incidents such as these to contact Dubbo Police,” he said.
Inquiries continue.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
