Arsonist avoids prison: Owner left with $100K damage bill after Prospect heritage home set ablaze

An arsonist has avoided prison over the ‘pointless destruction’ of a heritage home in Prospect that left the owner with a $100K damage bill.

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AN arsonist who “substantially destroyed” a heritage listed home at Prospect has avoided prison time with a suspended sentence.

Brody John Treloar, now 21, pleaded guilty to one count of arson in the Supreme Court in Launceston and was sentenced by Justice Michael Brett last Thursday.

The court heard Treloar entered the unoccupied property, which was in a poor state of repair, with an unidentified person.

They gathered loose items into a pile in the corner of the front room and used cigarette lighters to set them alight before fleeing.

Passers-by alerted the fire brigade, which attended and extinguished the fire, but the house suffered $100,000 worth of damage.

Justice Michael Brett said there was evidence the house was being used by squatters at the time, but no one else was actually in the home when it was set on fire.

Treloar was 19-years-old at the time of the crime.

Justice Brett said a psychological assessment found Treloar has a “very low level of intellectual functioning”, described by the psychologist as being “on the cusp of a mild intellectual disability”.

Launceston Supreme Court.

“The prosecution accepts that your actions were unplanned and impulsive.

“It is obvious that, although you did not think about the consequences of your actions or their impact on other people, you certainly knew what you were doing, you knew that it was wrong, and you acted deliberately.”

Justice Brett said he would sentence Treloar on the basis that he simply engaged in thoughtless and pointless destruction, presumably in an attempt to obtain some kind of thrill”.

“There were considerable risks involved in lighting this fire, including that someone may have been in the house unknown to you, that the fire might have spread to other buildings, and, of course, the ever present risk to firefighters and emergency services,” he said.

“Further, your actions have caused significant loss to the owner or the owner’s insurance company.

“Although your actions were unplanned and impulsive, they have had severe consequences and caused significant risk.”

Justice Brett convicted Treloar and sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment wholly suspended for 18 months under the condition of probation supervision.

Compensation was ordered in favour of the owner of the house in an amount yet to be determined.