A 38-year-old man has been charged with arson and the murder of a man known to him after a house fire in Holt on Wednesday, 22 May.

Atem Marol Deng entered a not-guilty plea as he faced the ACT Magistrates Court this morning, 31 May, accused of killing 36-year-old Bor Ador Deng. ACT Policing Acting Superintendent Stephen Ladd said the men are not related but are both believed to be members of Canberra’s Sudanese community.

Police identified the fire as suspicious at the time and launched an investigation, leading them to arrest and charge the 38-year-old man.

“Police will allege that, after a dispute between the men that had been ongoing over the past few weeks, the gentleman that’s been charged went to the residence and set the fire deliberately,” said Superintendent Ladd.

The cause of death, as determined by the post-mortem, was asphyxiation or smoke inhalation from the fire.

Police declined to provide specific details about the nature of the dispute and said that they were still “conducting more inquiries.”

The fire was started with the use of petrol, and the house was almost completely destroyed in the blaze.

“Unfortunately, due to the nature of fire, a lot of the physical evidence at the crime scene is destroyed,” said Superintendent Ladd.

“The house was extensively damaged and will never be lived in again; it was basically completely destroyed.”

The victim is said to have lived in the Holt residence for a number of years before the fire.

“I’m aware that the resident had been in that house for a number of years. I couldn’t tell you exactly how long that is. But obviously, our inquiries have revealed that he was away from Canberra for a couple of weeks leading up to the incident,” Superintendent Ladd said.

The victim was known to police.