STATE OF TASMANIA v CHLOE JADE BETTRIDGE CUTHBERTSON J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 28 MAY 2026
Chloe Jade Bettridge, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of causing a fire with intent to injure a person or property. On 23 January 2025, you set a blanket and tent alight. The tent was set up underneath a tree at the Domain, near the Hobart Aquatic Centre. You had been living in the tent with Mr Beths, who was your partner. The two of you were homeless. You had been in a relationship for about three years. At about 4:40am that morning, Mr Beths returned to the tent and found you sitting outside, wrapped in a blanket. You told him you did not want to go back in the tent with all the other people that were there. No one else was in the tent. You eventually went into the tent with Mr Beths. You were acting strangely and kept calling Mr Beths by your brother’s name. You eventually settled down and fell asleep.
Just before 7.05am, you left the tent while Mr Beths was still asleep inside. You then returned to the front of the tent, opened the entrance and crouched down and used a cigarette lighter to set a blanket alight. Once you had lit the blanket on fire, you zipped the tent back up before walking away. As you walked away, flames were burning at the front entrance of the tent. Someone saw the fire and called triple zero. Fortunately, Mr Beths woke up and was able to get out of the tent. By the time he jumped through the tent entrance, that part of the tent was fully alight. There were deodorant cans in the tent; they exploded shortly after Mr Beths got out. By 7:10am, the tent was fully engulfed in fire. The Tasmania Fire Service attended and extinguished the fire.
Mr Beths was injured and went to hospital. He had burns and blistering to his lower limbs. Those burns were cleaned and dressed. His tent, sleeping bag, phone, wallet and clothes were all destroyed by the fire.
You were found by police later that day. When police tried to arrest you, you repeatedly yelled that Mr Beths had killed your baby. You were interviewed at the Hobart Police Station. You said you had been in a relationship with Mr Beths for about three years, but that it had ended that day. You said he had arrived at the tent sometime earlier in the morning and that the two of you had had a cuddle. When police asked why you started the fire, you said you just did it and that you had used your lighter. You told them that you were trying to hurt Mr Beths. You would not explain to police why you wanted to hurt him. You told police you did not want to kill him. You said you thought he was asleep when you set fire to the tent. You also told police that you had used methylamphetamine at about 1:00am in the morning.
Mr Beths has been badly affected by your offending. A victim impact statement explaining how Mr Beths was impacted by the fire was read in Court. He finds it hard to believe that you set fire to the tent. He was heartbroken. A family violence order was issued after the fire and you were not allowed to see each other. This upset Mr Beths as he lost his relationship with you and a good friendship. At the time of the fire, his life was already tough as he was homeless and living in a tent. His life became harder after the fire. He used drugs very hard and his life spiralled out of control. He says he does not want to make things hard for you and hopes that you can receive the help that you need.
You have a number of relevant prior matters. You first appeared in the Perth Children’s Court when you were 15 years old. The offences you committed as a young person include damage to property, offences of violence, and threats to injure, endanger or harm a person. You also have prior matters for violent offending and damage to property committed as an adult. In addition, you have a significant history of dishonest and drug related offences. You have previously been sentenced to community-based orders and suspended and actual periods of imprisonment.
You are 33 years old. I have been provided with a lot of information about you, which includes information about your childhood. You had a terrible childhood. You were raised by your mother. She was not a safe person to care for you. She put you in harm’s way. You experienced a great deal of abuse and trauma, which no child should have to experience, while in her care. You were removed from her care when you were seven years old and placed in foster care. You had a terrible time in foster care placements as well. You sometimes ran away from your placements and back to your mother’s home. You were abused when you were back at your mother’s home. From the information I have read, there were only two brief periods where you felt safe and loved as a child; you had one foster carer who you felt safe with, and your grandfather and aunt looked after you for a time. Sadly, your grandfather and aunt died a short time after becoming involved in your life.
Against that background, it is not surprising that you have had such a difficult life as an older teenager and adult. Your education was affected. You have used drugs from the age of 14 to try and escape what was happening in your life. When you were 19, you first used amphetamines, and you have regularly used such drugs since. Your drug use has been bad for your mental health. You have four children, none of whom are in your care. One resides with a relative, three are in State care.
When you were a child, you were diagnosed with an intellectual disability. You have recently been tested by a psychologist in the prison. She has assessed your intellectual ability in the borderline to very low range. According to that testing, your cognitive functioning is lower than approximately 93% of your same aged peers. This means it is likely that you will struggle to understand and respond to spoken language, remember appointments, keep track of your belongings, organise your day, and grasp new information quickly. The psychologist also assessed your adaptive skills. These are the skills you need to function effectively in daily life. Your score on that testing indicated you fell within the extremely low range of adaptive functioning, and that your adaptive behaviour was below that of approximately 99.8% of your same age peers. The testing identified difficulties across a number of areas, and highlights your need for intensive support in daily living, communication, and social interactions. Although the recent tests suggest that you do not meet the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability, your psychological issues increase your susceptibility to stress and overwhelm, which can affect your cognitive effectiveness. Your use of substances and mental health conditions are also likely to affect your functioning.
I have been provided a report from Dr Jennifer Wright who is a forensic psychologist. You told her that you believed Mr Beths had killed your children at the time that you set fire to the blanket. Dr Wright considers that you present with mild intellectual disability, borderline personality disorder (also commonly referred to as complex PTSD), substance use disorders and episodes of substance induced psychotic disorder. These all have a significant impact on you. Your borderline personality disorder, or complex PTSD, is likely to be related to the terrible trauma you experienced as a child. Your substance use disorder was severe at the time of committing this offence as you were regularly taking large amounts of methylamphetamine. Dr Wright considers that your use of drugs at the time of lighting the fire caused you to experience delusional beliefs. You no longer believe that Mr Beths killed your children. You do, however, continue to describe hearing the voices of your abusers which is likely related to your complex PTSD.
Dr Wright does not consider that you were suffering from a mental health condition that impaired your ability to exercise appropriate judgment, make calm and rational choices, made you disinhibited, or impaired your ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of your conduct. She did not identify a mental health condition which caused you to light the fire. She says your actions were driven by the delusional beliefs you had about Mr Beths. At that time, you were either acutely intoxicated or withdrawing from amphetamines and cannabis, and in a state of substance induced psychosis. Although you experience a number of mental health conditions, Dr Wright says that they did not drive your offending.
Dr Wright, however, considers that you are a vulnerable woman with a number of mental health diagnoses and cognitive impairment. She has suggested the Court should consider whether it is appropriate to sentence you to send an example to the community. Further, your coping skills, difficulty with interpersonal communication, problem solving, planning and organisation arising from your multiple issues, means that you would be negatively impacted by a long period of imprisonment. In Dr Wright’s view, you are in need of therapeutic support and intervention rather than imprisonment.
In March 2026, an order was made by the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal, declaring that you are unable, by reason of a mental disability, to make reasonable judgments in respect of matters relating to your estate and that you are in need of an administrator of your estate. The Public Trustee in Western Australia has the control of your finances. This highlights the extent of the difficulties that you experience.
Your offending was serious. Although this Court has sentenced people for causing a fire with intent to injure property, I can find no record of a person being sentenced for causing a fire with intent to injure a person. The case that is brought against you by the State is based on your intention to cause injury to Mr Beths and injury to property, namely the blanket, the tent and the items within the tent.
Setting fire to the blanket and the tent put Mr Beths at risk of serious harm. He could have burnt to death. It is lucky that he woke up in time to be able to escape. The explosion of the deodorant cans highlights how dangerous your conduct was. It is very scary to imagine what could have happened to Mr Beths if he had still been in the tent when that happened. You believed that Mr Beths had harmed your children when you set fire to the tent. There was no rational basis for that belief. It was entirely in your head and not based on anything that Mr Beths had done or said. You formed this belief while under the influence of methylamphetamine. It must be clear to you how terrible that drug is for you and your mental health. I recognise that your drug use is associated with the terrible things that happened to you when you were a child and a young person. It seems to me that your use of drugs has only made things worse for you. There is no suggestion that Mr Beths provoked your conduct. He was devastated when you set fire to his tent. He considered you a dear friend and you were in a relationship at the time. You should not treat people who care for you so badly. You have been terribly let down by people during your life; I am sure you understand that you have let Mr Beths down and how hard that must have been for him.
Although your conduct was not caused by any mental disorder you were experiencing at the time, but is related to your drug use and its effect on your thinking and actions, I do accept that there are a lot of factors in your life that need to be taken into account when sentencing you for this offence. All of the information before me establishes that you are someone who has had the most dreadful childhood experiences. Those experiences have had a significant impact on your development. All of the information satisfies me that you are someone who needs considerable support.
Although you have prior matters for violence and destroying property, there is no suggestion you have ever done anything as serious as this before. You have been to prison before, but not for this long. You have been in custody on this matter on two occasions. You were initially remanded in custody on 23 January 2025. You were granted bail by this Court in early April, but not released until 23 April 2025. This was because you were still serving a three month sentence imposed in the Magistrates Court in March 2025 that was backdated to 24 January 2025. You were again remanded in custody on 22 September 2025. You have been in custody, on a continuous basis, since then and that period is able to be taken into account when sentencing you for this matter.
I take into account your personal circumstances. At the time of committing this offence, your life was chaotic, you were using drugs and you were homeless. I accept that all of these issues can be related back to your experiences as a child Those experiences have shaped you and are relevant to whether it is appropriate to hold you up as an example to deter others in the community from committing offences like this. I do not consider it to be appropriate in light of what I have been told, including the things I have already referred to. I also take into account your plea of guilty. It has saved the need for a trial and for Mr Beths to give evidence.
The State has submitted that this was a family violence offence because you were in a significant relationship with Mr Beths and he suffered injury and damage to his property as a result of your criminal conduct. I agree. As a consequence, I direct that this offence be recorded on your criminal record as a family violence offence, pursuant to s 13A of the Family Violence Act 2004. In all the circumstances, your conduct warrants a period of imprisonment. The length of the sentence takes into account all of the matters I have referred to. I will suspend part of the sentence. In my view, you would benefit from some support in the community. I will make it a condition of the suspended sentence that you submit to the supervision of a probation officer.
Chloe Jade Betteridge, you are sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, backdated to 22 September 2025. The balance of that sentence is suspended from 28 May 2026, on condition that for 12 months following your release from custody that you:
- commit no further offence punishable by imprisonment; and
- submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer.
As the suspended sentences is conditional on your supervision by a probation officer, the order is subject to the core conditions of a community correction order, which are set out at s 42AO(b) to (f) of the Sentencing Act. They will be provided to you in writing. You must report to a probation officer at the office of Community Corrections in Hobart immediately upon your release from prison. You must submit to supervision and comply with the directions given by your probation officer, you must not leave Tasmania without permission and you must notify of any change of address. In addition to the core conditions, the order will also include the following special conditions that you must, during the 12 month operational period of the supervision order:
- submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by that officer;
- undergo assessment and treatment for drug dependency, submit to testing for drug use and submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer.