The getaway driver for a pair of arsonists who doused the Lake Macquarie City Council building in petrol and set it ablaze has admitted he was a "bloody idiot".
Tony Charles Graham and Scott Paul Matheson were due to be sentenced in Newcastle District Court on Monday for their roles in the November 2024 arson attack that caused $38.5 million in damage to the building alone and uprooted about 400 staff who worked there.
In December, the Newcastle Herald revealed text messages claiming a "big developer" who "wanted a tank to run through the place" had ordered the hit after arsonist Matheson and getaway driver Graham pleaded guilty to their roles in the deliberately-lit fire.
Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor Caitlin Nash on Monday said the sentences needed to recognise the harm done to the community.
"It took the co-offenders less than an hour to carry out this job, but their selfish actions have had long-lasting and destructive consequences," Ms Nash said.
"It will take three years and nearly $40 million to rebuild."
A letter tendered to the court from Lake Macquarie City Council chief executive Tony Farrell said the damage was not just monetary, but had a human cost.
For that reason, Ms Nash said their actions must attract the "strongest condemnation" from the court.
A middleman hired Matheson, Graham and a third unidentified man to cause as much damage as possible to the council building at Speers Point on November 27, 2024.
Matheson and the unknown man spray-painted over CCTV cameras outside before breaking into the building armed with jerry cans full of petrol and starting a blaze so destructive that the building is not expected to reopen until at least October 2027.
It was a stop at Warners Bay McDonald's for three drinks, paid for in cash, that ultimately led to their undoing when they were captured on CCTV going through the drive-through.
Graham's barrister Rob Hussey acknowledged the knock-on effects to the community but argued his client had lived largely "crime-free" throughout his life and would likely not be seen in court again.
The court heard the now 55-year-old man had suffered bouts of depression when his first marriage broke down and again in the months before the arson attack when he had quit his job to care for his father who later died of cancer.
Mr Hussey said Graham turned to substance use to manage his depression when he was presented with the "opportunity" to take on the job of getaway driver.
"An offer of easy money for a job that, notwithstanding, he knew what the purpose of it was, but in no way anticipated the extent of the damage that was to follow," Mr Hussey said.
"If I can turn to the planning, yes it was planned but it was relatively unsophisticated.
"Mr Graham has made a grave mistake, a grave error of misjudgement, to quote him ... he was in his own words a 'bloody idiot'."
There was some dispute between the parties about the overall cost of the attack, which was previously reported at more than $41 million.
Both agreed the total fire damage bill to the building was $38.5 million, with costs like hiring an alternative premises to be taken into account.
Matheson, 45, from Bar Beach, has also pleaded guilty to a drive-by shooting at a home in Elermore Vale on January 29, 2025.
Police allege the house was sprayed with bullets that became lodged in the front of the house and in a car.
That investigation led to a raid on Matheson's Fenton Street property, where police seized two rifles, two pistols and a gel blaster machine gun.
Ms Nash said six people were home at the time, including two children.
"No victim impact statements have been tendered on sentence, but it is not difficult to see how terrifying this incident must have been for the residents," she said.
"Mr Matheson is before the court to be sentenced for two offences that occurred in the space of just a couple of months that did, or could have, had disastrous consequences."
Matheson's solicitor Haydn McDuff said of the firearms found, there was only evidence to show one of them was capable of firing.
Mr McDuff said he could not stand before the judge and say his client was a "person of good character" but argued Matheson's time in prison will be more difficult given he has already been assaulted twice and has been in segregation for his own protection since October last year.
"I can't submit his prospects are good, but there are aspects of his subjective case that with the right supports he would be able to rehabilitate himself," Mr McDuff said.
Judge Timothy Gartelmann SC reserved sentence until Friday to consider the case.
