A man accused of a Christmas arson attack on a car bearing a Hanukkah sign outside a rabbi’s home has declared his innocence.
John Argento, of Richmond, faced Melbourne magistrates court on Tuesday after being charged with six counts of arson.
The man faces multiple charges including six counts of criminal damage by fire, six counts of shop theft, three counts of obtaining property by deception, two counts of attempted theft from motor vehicle, theft from a motor vehicle and burglary.
The 47-year-old is accused of setting alight a car bearing a chanukiah symbol, a nine-branched candelabrum associated with Hanukah celebrations, outside a local rabbi’s house in St Kilda East, south-east of Melbourne, in the early hours of Christmas Day.
No one was inside the vehicle at the time, but the house had to be evacuated as a precaution.
Police alleged Argento may have also been involved in an incident at a nearby street where a car was broken into about 20 minutes after the alleged arson.
Argento was not represented by a lawyer and appeared in court from Moorabbin police cells, where he was remanded in custody.
“I’m innocent of this arson,” he said over the video link during his court appearance.
The court was told Argento had diagnosed schizophrenia, bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He was also at risk of self-harm and on a methadone program, the court heard.
Argento was remanded to appear before the court again on Thursday.
Emergency services responded to reports on Christmas Day that a car was on fire in the driveway of a property in St Kilda East, in Melbourne’s south-east.
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Rabbi Effy Block, from the Chabad of St Kilda, said the targeted car belonged to a friend of his who is also a rabbi.
No one was inside the car at the time, but the occupants of the house – a woman and three children – were evacuated as a precaution, police said.
The incident came less than two weeks after the alleged terror attack that targeted Jews celebrating Hanukah at Sydney’s Bondi beach and claimed 15 lives.
After the car was firebombed, Naomi Levin, chief executive of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, said “the Australian Jewish community remains on edge”.
“This is a continuation of the daily fear the Jewish community has had to live in for the past two years, and even more so after Bondi,” Levin said at the time.
After the alleged arson attack, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said in a statement posted online that she had been briefed by police about what “the community rightly fear is an antisemitic incident”.
“This is not what any family, street or community deserves to wake up to on Christmas Day in Australia,” Allan said.
“This little car has been driving around town spreading the Hanukah and holiday cheer. I even saw one drive past when I was in Caulfield on Monday afternoon.”
