Spring Break
Australian wildfire suspect named as death toll reaches 189
Tanalee Smith - Associated Press
Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: News
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Brendan Sokaluk, a 39-year-old who reportedly once served as a volunteer fighter, was named as the suspect police arrested last week, as the death toll from the wildfires edged up to 189 on Monday.
Authorities were forced to keep Sokaluk at a secret location to protect him from potential reprisal attacks after a magistrate lifted a ban on publishing his name.
Sokaluk has been charged with one count of arson causing death and one of lighting a blaze that police said Monday killed 10 people.
About 200 homes were destroyed in the fire, one of hundreds that blazed across Victoria state on Feb. 7 in Australia's worst fire disaster.
"He was quiet. You wouldn't know if he was odd or not," said a neighbor, who did not want to be named out of sensitivity to Sokaluk's family.
"He would say G'day when you passed him."
Neighbors say he kept to himself and lived alone. One said she thought he was strange because she once saw him watering his lawn in the rain.
"I told my kids to keep away from him," said the young mother, who did not want her name used so as not to draw attention to her street.
"Two of my friends lost their houses in the fire. I don't know much about him but I'm glad he was caught."
Sokaluk's defense lawyer, Helen Spowart, argued in a hearing Monday that Sokaluk's identity should remain secret because of a heightened level of public anger and disgust over the case.
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