THREE years have been added to the sentence of a man who committed a shocking crime in Hamilton in 2019 by dousing his housemate with fuel and setting him alight, causing catastrophic injuries.

41-year-old Umit Gorgulu from Portland will now serve 13 years with a minimum of 10 after the Office of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal on Friday against sentence leniency.

The original sentence imposed by the Supreme Court was 10 years with a minimum of seven years.

In 2021, Gorgulu pleaded not guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court to attempted murder following the incident, but a Supreme Court jury found him guilty in March 2022, for intentionally causing serious injury.

The courts previously heard that on April 18, 2019, at about 7.50pm, Gorgulu threw petrol at his then 47-year-old housemate, Kevin Taplin, also a Portland man, following a series of arguments that began during a car trip to Hamilton from Portland to collect a motorbike.

The courts heard that Gorgulu became enraged for no apparent reason and threw his own mobile phone out of the car window causing Mr Taplin to pull over so he could retrieve it, but Gorgulu got out and gestured for Mr Taplin to drive away.

Mr Taplin continued to drive to Hamilton, but when the person he originally arranged to meet was not ready, he drove back along the Henty Highway to check on Gorgulu, who was still walking along the road.

However, when Mr Taplin pulled over, Gorgulu abused him and tried unsuccessfully to grab the car keys, prompting Mr Taplin to leave again.

Gorgulu then hitchhiked to Hamilton where during the car ride he told a witness he was angry about Mr Taplin and said he would burn his motorbike and “f*** him up”, before also leaving a threatening voicemail on Mr Taplin’s phone.

When the two reunited in Hamilton, they were travelling in a car with another person when Gorgulu became aggressive towards Mr Taplin and punched the back of his head multiple times.

Sometime after that, Gorgulu was able to grab a five-litre petrol tin from the rear tray of the vehicle and threw fuel over Mr Taplin and the car, before setting him and the car alight with a cigarette lighter.

Mr Taplin was immediately engulfed in flames and exited the vehicle and started rolling on the ground. Neighbours assisted to put the fire out by using garden hoses and called emergency services before he was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital.

Mr Taplin spent two weeks in an induced coma and was treated for serious burns to his head, neck, chest, right upper limb, and left hand, as well as damage to his lungs and eyes.

The courts previously heard a victim impact statement that detailed the excruciating pain Mr Taplin experienced throughout his recovery, and the physical, psychological, and emotional scars sustained from the incident, including post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, and struggling to trust others.

With time already served, Gorgulu will now be eligible for parole in 10 years.