A HOMELESS man who flicked a lit cigarette into his partner's bedroom during an argument, watched as the smoke began to rise and then locked the door and left has been jailed for a maximum of two years and three months in Newcastle Local Court.
"Have fun living with nothin'," Thomas Bernard Ellem, now 44, told his partner as he left her Cessnock home with his belongings in the early hours of June 22 last year.
Ellem made no mention of the fire that was slowly enveloping his partner's bedroom at the rear of the house and his partner told police that at the time she thought nothing of the comment.
It wasn't until 10 minutes later that the woman and her son and his friends noticed the smoke building in the hallway. They tried to open the door but it was locked from the inside.
After jimmying it open with a butter knife, they could see flames in the corner of the room and everyone ran from the house, jumping through windows and trying to extinguish the blaze with garden hoses.
Ultimately, the house was completely destroyed by fire and the woman lost all of her possessions.
When Ellem was arrested a month later he denied starting the fire and said he might have sparked an electrical wire when he punched a hole in his partner's bedroom wall.
It was a serious example of domestic violence and Magistrate Robert Stone jailed Ellem for a maximum of two years and three months with a non-parole period of 14 months on Wednesday.
