Ashley Peter Smith avoids jail time for lighting fires at house he used to live in

After a night drinking, a man lit a fire in a house he used to live in. When he returned later, he found that the fire had gone out, so he lit another one.

Launceston Supreme Court. Picture: Patrick Gee

A Supreme Court judge has concluded that it is not appropriate to send a homeless man who deliberately lit fires in a house he used to live in to jail.

Justice Alan Blow sentenced Ashley Peter Smith for five charges related to starting a fire at a house in Punchbowl on January 5, 2023.

Smith’s mother lived in the house for 18 years.

He moved in eight years after his mother had lived there.

In 2022, Smith’s mother was sent to jail for stabbing her partner.

Chief Justice Alan Blow OAM. Supreme of Tasmania judges. Picture: SUPPLIED

As a result, Housing Tasmania terminated the tenancy, and Smith was evicted.

Justice Blow said that he became homeless.

“Occasionally, the Launceston City Mission was able to provide him with accommodation, but those arrangements were intermittent.

“At other times, he lived in a tent at a camping ground, slept behind some skip bins, or slept in the Punchbowl house, which remained vacant.”

On the night of the fire, Justice Blow said Smith and a friend had been drinking at a campsite before going to the house he had been evicted from.

“Smith broke a window and entered the house through that window. He proceeded to punch some holes in the plaster of a hallway.

“Then he went into a room where some renovation work was in progress. The stud work of an internal wall was exposed.

“He placed his companion’s shirt inside that wall and set fire to it, intending to set fire to the building.”

However, the fire went out after Smith left.

“Smith went back to the house a little later and entered through the front door,” Justice Blow said.

“He found that the fire had gone out. He removed the shirt from the wall, placed it on the hallway carpet, and set fire to it again.”

Launceston Supreme Court. Picture: Patrick Gee

Justice Blow said a carpet patch was damaged, and as the building was filled with smoke, the fire alarms went off.

After fire crews put out the blaze, Smith admitted to deliberately lighting it.

“It is clear that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as the result of exposure to his mother’s violence towards his stepfather,” Justice Blow said.

“The condition involves prominent depressive features.

“He has a long history of abusing ice, cannabis, other illicit drugs, alcohol and prescription medication.

“His desire to damage the house was associated with the emotional impact of his post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Justice Blow said Smith’s mental health would deteriorate if he went to prison.

“He has taken steps to enrol in the Salvation Army’s Bridge Program and has been obtaining professional assistance from a general practitioner.

“His counsel told me that he had abstained from alcohol for three months and from drugs for two months.

He recently ceased to be homeless.

“His counsel has told me more this afternoon about further steps that he has taken towards overcoming his problems.”

Smith was sentenced to 6 months prison, wholly suspended, on the condition that he does not commit a crime punishable by imprisonment for a year.