A 54-year-old woman, who worked as a TV extra on a number of popular Australian dramas, has avoided jail after pleading guilty to arson at the Pelican Shores Estate in Leopold, 11km west of the Geelong city centre.
Maureen Price, who has appeared on shows like Wentworth, had reportedly been ordered to vacant her unit after failing to pay rent.
The Country Court heard Price returned to Pelican Shores in January 2019, heavily intoxicated, and lit a fire at her old unit, telling neighbours, “They’re not going to get anything of mine.”
Price was arrested at the scene and later denied the allegations.
Her lawyers encouraged the Court to consider her “exemplary good character” and that she’d been experiencing issues with mental health and alcoholism at the time of the fire.
“This was a time of great personal stress,” they said in submissions filed.
“Ms Price was looking down the barrel of homelessness at 54 years of age.”
Price will now serve a two-year community correction order.
