Home torched after wife fails to make lunch

MELBOURNE - A Melbourne father who tried to burn down his house while his daughters and wife were inside has been jailed for four years.

Angry his wife had failed to make him lunch, Rajah Theivendradas, 54, poured petrol on a staircase of his Endeavour Hills home and set it alight in May last year.

His wife Vasantha and daughters Ambiga, 21, and Anoja, 16, were forced to flee through the flames, the Victorian County Court heard.

The mother's nightgown caught fire as did Ambiga's pants.

They suffered superficial burns and singed hair.

Theivendradas pleaded guilty to arson, three counts of reckless conduct endangering another person and causing injury recklessly.

The court heard Theivendradas had been drinking heavily on the day before the fire.

He also had an argument with his eldest daughter about respect.

At 5.30am as he was getting ready for work, Theivendradas began yelling at his family and telling them to leave the house.

He then went to the garage and got a tin of petrol.

His youngest daughter told him to "stop being stupid" and that police would know it was him as she watched him douse the staircase in petrol.

After the family had fled the house Theivendradas attempted to put the fire out, before getting in the car and driving to work.

He later told police the fire was an accident caused by a dropped cigarette butt.

The court heard Theivendradas came to Australia from Sri Lanka in the early 1990s with his wife whom he wedded in an arranged marriage in 1985.

Victorian County Court Judge John Nixon said Theivendradas was out of control but not psychiatrically disturbed.

He said Theivendradas committed the crime while one of his daughters watched and another daughter and his wife were upstairs.

"It was an inexcusable, senseless, destructive and dangerous criminal act on your part," he said.

Theivendradas must serve a minimum two years and three months in prison before being eligible for parole.

He has already spent 442 days in custody.

- AAP