{"id":835500,"date":"2026-07-31T11:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835500\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:25:13","slug":"bail-granted-to-man-charlie-hills-after-alleged-coles-bay-robbery-and-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835500\/","title":{"rendered":"Bail granted to man Charlie Hills after alleged Coles Bay robbery and arson"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of three men accused of a violent robbery and arson attack on a 76-year-old man at Coles Bay has been granted bail.<\/p>\n

Charlie Hills, 29, appeared via video link from Launceston at court in Hobart today, where Justice Robert Pearce granted bail with strict conditions and a $10,000 surety.<\/p>\n

It was the second time Hills had applied for bail after being denied on a previous occasion.<\/p>\n

The state Director of Public Prosecutions did not oppose bail.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hills appeared via video link from Launceston for the bail hearing. Image \/ ABC News<\/p>\n

Hills faces charges including attempted aggravated burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated armed robbery, aggravated assault, arson and motor vehicle stealing.<\/p>\n

His lawyer has previously indicated he would plead not guilty.<\/p>\n

\"\"Grant Whelan was allegedly tied up with cable ties at his Coles Bay home<\/p>\n

Grant Whelan was allegedly tied up with cable ties at his Coles Bay home around 5am on Saturday July 11.<\/p>\n

His 15 firearms were allegedly stolen, his ute taken and his house burnt to the ground.<\/p>\n

Hills was arrested in the week following the incident alongside Jason Burns, 33 and Hayden Morrison, 31, both from the Launceston area.<\/p>\n

Burns and Morrison face the same charges, with an additional charge of breaching a family violence order.<\/p>\n

\"\"Justice Robert Pearce granted bail with strict conditions<\/p>\n

Whelan spent six days in the Royal Hobart Hospital before being released on July 16.<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian community has rallied around him since the attack, with more than $100,000 raised through an online fundraiser and volunteers helping to clean up the burnt remains of his home.<\/p>\n

The 15 stolen firearms have not been recovered.<\/p>\n

Tasmania Police have called for information from the public.<\/p>\n

\"\"Whelan spent six days in the Royal Hobart Hospital after the attack. Image \/ WIN News<\/p>\n

Hills will next appear in court on September 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of three men accused of a violent robbery and arson attack on a 76-year-old man at Coles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-835500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}