Gino Scutti pleaded guilty to arson charges.
The Carrathool Family Hotel was destroyed in the 2010 fire.
The Carrathool Family Hotel was destroyed in the 2010 fire.
THE former owner of the Carrathool Hotel who was accused of burning down the historic pub in 2010 pleaded guilty to the charges in Griffith Local Court last week.
Gino Scutti, 65, will be sentenced in March after he pleaded guilty to charges of malicious damage of property by fire and publishing false, misleading information to obtain advantage on Friday.
A charge of dishonestly for gain damage property by fire was withdrawn by the police prosecution.
In September 2010, Carrathool residents were devastated when their only watering hole was completely gutted by fire.
About 11.30pm on September 22, NSW Fire and Rescue and Rural Fire Service crews rushed to the scene, while neighbours attempted to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose.
But firefighters were unable to bring the inferno under control and the 125-year-old hotel and attached owners' premises were completely destroyed.
In following weeks, Griffith police established Strike Force Alvi to investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire.
After a 17-month investigation, Scutti was arrested at his Lake Albert home in February 2012.
Gino and Sharon Scutti purchased the hotel in 1996 for $240,000 but changes to the Gaming Machines Act in 2002 resulted in the pub's licensees selling the poker machines from under the couple, cutting its worth to just $50,000.
Scutti originally pleaded not guilty to the charges and was set to face an eight-day trial in February, but will instead be sentenced in Wagga Local Court on March 27.
The Carrathool Family Hotel has since been rebuilt by a consortium of local businessmen and opened in January last year.
