AN alleged arsonist, believed to be from Wangaratta, will remain in custody after being charged with setting a heritage-listed Caulfield Racecourse grandstand alight. The 51-year-old man faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday after he was charged with causing serious damage in a series of fires in Caufield and Mordialloc on Tuesday, January 7. The man was alleged to have started a major blaze which tore through the Norman Robinson Grandstand of the Caulfield Racecourse about 6.25am, with more than 65 firefighters and 17 appliances used to respond and quickly contain the blaze within an hour. Police also allege the man started several grass fires in Mordialloc about 12.30pm and set a series of small fires in Arnott Street, Caulfield shortly after. Mordialloc police arrested the man at the Mordialloc Railway Station around 1:45pm the same day. The man, whose last known address was in Wangaratta, was charged with four counts of arson, two counts of trespass and one count each of burglary, criminal damage and theft. He was remanded in custody, and he will appear back before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on April 1 for a committal mention.
