A 26-year-old man was sentenced for flooding a 15-storey apartment building in Woolloongabba after being “blackout drunk” on the night he visited his friend.
On 19 February 2021, Daniel Martin Kornaus visited his friend on the sixth floor of the Vicinity Apartments in Woolloongabba. Then at about 2 am the next day, firefighters received reports of flooding at the building.
Police who investigated the incident found CCTV footage that shows Kornaus turning on the hydrants in the stairwells located on the sixth and seventh floors.
Crown prosecutor Edward Fleetwood said that this activated the diesel pumps, ejecting 1,000 litres of water per minute from the seventh floor down to the ground floor. It took the firefighters some 30 minutes to turn the pumps off.
Kornaus has caused damage to the apartment building amounting to more than $500,000 and financial losses to many of its residents. The property damage caused by the incident forced tenants in 52 of the 92 units to vacate the building for more than one week.
Mr Fleetwood added that Kornaus also removed 11 fire extinguishers and put them in a parked vehicle downstairs, tore down fire evacuation notices and randomly hit a parked car with a fire extinguisher.
Brisbane District Court was also told that Kornaus, who was diagnosed with autism and a non-verbal learning disorder and also struggles with alcohol addiction, was “blackout drunk” on the night he committed the offence.
Kornaus pleaded guilty to five charges including interfering with fire apparatuses and willful damage.
On 29 November 2022, Judge Michael Byrne sentenced him to 18 months in jail but wholly suspended the sentence with a two-year probation.
Published 25-January-2023
