Criminal Property Law
6. Arson
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 29 Aug 2015
- The offence of arson relates to criminal property damage where the property is destroyed by fire.
- In order to prove the offence of arson the prosecution need to prove
- that the offender destroyed or damaged property by fire;
- that the property belonged to another person;
- that the offender intended to destroy or damage property by fire; and
- the offender did not have a lawful excuse (reason) for their actions.
- A person intends to destroy or damage property by fire if:
- their purpose is to destroy or damage the property by fire; or
- they know that their actions will more than likely result in destroying or damaging the property by fire.
- The age of the offender may be relevant in assessing whether they knew their actions would result in the property being damaged or destroyed by fire.
- The prosecution must also prove that the offender acted without lawful excuse. A lawful excuse is a legal defence to a charge of arson. An example of a lawful excuse may be a hazard reduction operation started by the Rural Fire Service that gets out of control and burns property.
- There are statutory excuses in the legislation (law). They are:
- where the accused honestly believed they owned the property or that they had the consent of the owner to destroy or damage the property by fire; and
- where the accused honestly believed that the fire was necessary to protect their own or another person’s property and their actions were reasonable in the circumstances.
- Where a person commits the crime of arson and as a result of the fire a person is killed they will be guilty of arson causing death. This is a very serious offence similar to manslaughter and almost certainly will result in a term of imprisonment.
View more Information on Criminal Law