Volunteer firefighter turned arsonist deemed too ‘vulnerable’ for prison

A former volunteer firefighter has dodged further prison time due to his intellectual disability, because of which he is the “mental age of a child”.

A former volunteer firefighter who admitted to starting five bushfires last summer has avoided returning to prison after being handed a suspended sentence.

Jude Craig Wright walked free from Western Australia’s District court on Friday, with Judge Natalie Whitby declaring him a “highly vulnerable” person who would likely “be victimised in a custodial environment”.

Mr Wright had pleaded guilty to nine counts of wilfully light or cause to be lit a fire likely to injure or damage.

Mr Wright, 20, has been diagnosed with a number of conditions, including autism and ADHD, which means he is the “mental age of a child” according to his Lawyer Maxwell Crispe.

Mr Crispe asked for the suspended sentence because his client wasn’t capable of understanding the full consequences of his actions.

Mr Wright was just 18 years old in December 2021 when he lit his first fire in Chidlow, about 45km east of Perth.

A volunteer firefighter with the Wooroloo Bushfire Brigade at the time, Mr Wright was among the crew called to battle the blaze he himself had started.

He then started more fires throughout a three-week period over Christmas and New Year’s, with one blaze in Wooroloo on Boxing Day causing an estimated $1m damage, including the destruction of one home.

The fire Jude Craig Wright started in Wooroloo on January 9, 2022 was quickly the subject of an emergency warning.

Mr Wright was arrested later in January 2022, before spending 35 weeks in custody, during which time he was assaulted in Hakea Prison and had to be moved to Casuarina Prison.

Although Judge Whitby was scathing in her sentencing remarks on Friday, she also acknowledged Wright posed a low risk of reoffending, and that putting him back behind bars would not be in the interests of Mr Wright himself or the community.

Mr Wright was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended, but was allowed to walk free from the courtroom due to time served.

Outside court, family and supporters of Mr Wright were abusive to reporters waiting to ask questions.