NSW bushfires: Teen arsonists, firebugs getting slap on the wrist
More than 100 children and teens a year are suspected of lighting fires in NSW but just a fraction of them ever face a courtroom.
NSW
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More than 100 children and teens a year are suspected of lighting fires in NSW — but just a fraction ever have to face a courtroom, while the rest get a slap on the wrist.
It comes as the devastating early start to the bushfire season this year has been made worse by teenage firebugs being caught lighting fires, including three boys aged 15 and 16 who were arrested for allegedly setting bushland alight off The Northern Rd at Harrington Park, near Campbelltown, on Sunday evening.
It took firefighters 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze.
Police later said each of the teenagers was eligible to be dealt with under the Young Offender’s Act.
The Act means offenders under the age of 18 can be let off with a warning or a formal police caution, or ordered to attend a conference with their parent or guardian.
Of 594 youths aged between 10 and 17 suspected of setting fire to bush, buildings and cars in the past five years, just 230 made it to a juvenile court, Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows.
Of the 42 youths allegedly caught lighting bushfires in the year to July 2019, 23 received a caution, warning or a conference.
The legislation does not prevent repeat offenders from getting repeat pardons.
“A child is not precluded from being given a warning merely because the child has previously committed offences or been dealt with under this Act,” the Act states.
Police remain on high alert heading into this weekend’s forecast temperatures of 40C.
Since August, legal action ranging from cautions to criminal charges had been taken against a staggering 54 people for 69 bushfire-related offences. Assistant Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, who heads the arson-busting Strike Force Tronto, said officers were profiling known firebugs for local police to keep an eye on them.
“Bushfires can be catastrophic, and any report of a deliberately-lit fire is treated extremely seriously,” Mr Smith said.
“Profiles on people deemed to pose a risk in relation to potential bushfire arson are prepared each season and provided to individual police area commands and police districts. This process continues using additional intelligence collected throughout the danger period.”
Tronto detectives are still investigating 16 fires amid the most recent crisis, which has killed four people, that are suspected of being deliberately lit, including blazes in Katoomba, South Turramurra and Lane Cove.
Offences of deliberately lighting bushfires can carry jail sentences of up to 25 years for adults.