A former Australian Army reservist has been sentenced to 35 years behind bars for killing his neighbour by setting him on fire.

Stuart Lee was sentenced in the Supreme Court on Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of murder.



In March 2023, the 65-year-old threw petrol on his neighbour, 66-year-old Colin Bainbridge, and lit him on fire after a land-clearing dispute between the two men at Wheatsheaf, a rural area about 100 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

Mr Bainbridge suffered burns to 70 per cent of his body and later died in hospital.



Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney told the court Lee's shocking and heartless crimes on a completely innocent and unsuspecting victim were beyond human contemplation.

Despite a guilty plea, Justice Tinney said Lee had shown no remorse.

He also dismissed evidence that Lee was psychotic at the time of offending, telling the court Lee was a sad, angry, embittered person whose sole intention was to maim Mr Bainbridge and teach him a lesson he would never forget.

The court heard Lee had a history of delusional and paranoid ideas about his neighbours and in a separate incident in 2021, threatened to pour petrol over another neighbour.

Lee was convicted in the Ballarat Magistrates Court of one charge of making a threat to kill in relation to that offence.

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Killer called police​

The court heard that in the lead-up to Mr Bainbridge's murder, Lee called police five times, telling an officer if they did not come, he would murder his neighbours.

Lee then doused Mr Bainbridge in petrol, lit him on fire, returned home, and called the police again to report he'd had an altercation with his neighbour.

The court heard Lee told police he lit Mr Bainbridge on fire in an act of self-defence.

Justice Tinney ruled Lee had fabricated the narrative that Mr Bainbridge had threatened him with a chainsaw on multiple occasions.

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"I do not accept that you were ever in fear," Justice Tinney told the court.

"Your indignant anger overcame your clear understanding of the wrongfulness of your actions and you committed murder," Justice Tinney said.

"Your heartless and cruel actions have damaged the family grievously and permanently."

Lee has already served 835 days of his sentence and will be eligible for parole in 27 years.

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