Detective superintendent Gordon Arbinja said investigations would continue.
“This alleged attack was coordinated and targeted, with more arrests expected in the coming days and weeks ahead,” he said.
Man charged over alleged arson attack of YouTuber’s Bondi home
Image: The Bondi home of Jordan Shanks-Markovina, otherwise known as Friendlyjordies. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift
by GRACE JOHNSON
A man has been charged over an alleged arson attack on the Bondi home of a popular YouTube personality.
Emergency services were called at 12:20am in November last year after a fire broke out, significantly damaging the house and an adjoining property.
Content producer Jordan Shanks-Markovina, also known as Friendlyjordies, had misplaced his keys and was not home at the time.
Shanks-Markovina, 34, is an Australian political commentator and stand-up comedian who has collected more than one million followers on social media with his videos. Often controversial, he describes himself as focusing on “low-brow humour.”
Police allege the incident was linked to another fire at the same home days earlier on Thursday, November 17, which Shanks-Markovina’s lawyer said was an attempt to target Shanks-Markovina.
In a video released after the second fire, Shanks-Markovina sarcastically thanked ClubsNSW for including his address in publicly available Federal Court documents.
The peak body began a private criminal prosecution against Shanks-Markovina for an interview he did with whistleblower Troy Stolz that ClubsNSW claims is in contempt of court.
It alleged that Shanks-Markovina “knowingly assisted Mr Stolz to disobey and breach the November 2021 order and has, himself, published statements that scandalise the court and have a tendency to interfere with the due administration of justice”.
Speaking to the press outside his home last year, Shanks-Markovina said, “We’ve done some extremely dangerous reporting over the last year on a bunch of extremely powerful people and corporations, there are many people that would want to do that.”
After a year of investigating, police arrested a 37-year-old suspect at a correctional centre in Silverwater, in Sydney’s west, on Wednesday December 20.
The man was charged with two counts of destroying or damaging a property by fire.
He appeared before Waverley Local Court and was remanded in custody.
