Environment

Suspect charged with arson and child porn in Australian wildfire

by Amy Judd | February 13, 2009 at 06:57 pm

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A man has been charged with arson in the case of the Australian Wildfires, but he has also been charged with one count of child pornography.

Police have put him in protective custody as firefighters are still working to contain about a dozen blazes.

More than 1,800 homes were destroyed and the death toll is currently at 181 people, though that is expected to exceed 200.

The suspect, whose identity was banned from publication by a magistrate because of the risk of reprisal attacks against him or his family, was formally charged with one count of arson causing death, one of intentionally lighting a wildfire, and one of possessing child pornography, Victoria police said.

The man is in custody and has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. If he is found guilty he could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for the deadly arson charge and a maximum of 15 years if he is found guilty of the second arson charge. Five years is the maximum he could get for possessing child porn.
Arson however is hard to prove, and murder by arson is even harder to prove.

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Pythiian1

at 20:25 on February 13th, 2009

In addition the loss of lives, I wonder how Australian legal system will also treat destruction of property, not to mention wildlife.

Paschen

at 05:29 on February 14th, 2009

Well, if he is guilty, then lets hope they can make it stick.

AKAmamma

at 07:11 on February 14th, 2009

Maybe Australian authorities are using the murder by arson charge as a deterrent or food for thought for potential arsonists. Arson is indeed something hard to prove.