STATE OF TASMANIA v ASHLEY PETER SMITH 27 MARCH 2024
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr Smith has pleaded guilty to five charges relating to fires started by him at a house at Punchbowl, where he used to live. The charges all relate to crimes committed on 5 January 2023.
Mr Smith’s mother lived in the house in question for about 18 years. She rented it from Housing Tasmania. For about the last 10 years of her tenancy Mr Smith lived there too. His mother had a partner. She also had unfortunate mental health problems. During 2022 she was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment as a result of stabbing her partner. Housing Tasmania terminated her tenancy in or about April 2022 because she had ceased to have need of the house. The victim of the stabbing and Mr Smith were both evicted. Mr Smith 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 5 January 2023, Mr Smith drank some alcohol with a friend at a campsite and then walked to the house. Mr 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. The two men left. The fire went out. Mr Smith went back to the house a little later and entered through the front door. 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. A patch of carpet was damaged. The building filled with smoke. The smoke alarms were activated. The Tasmania Fire Service attended and extinguished the fire. Mr Smith made admissions to the firefighters. The police arrived and he made further admissions to them. He was arrested and taken to the Launceston Police Station where he participated in a video recorded interview and made substantial admissions.
The five charges to which he has pleaded guilty are as follows:
- Aggravated burglary, committed by entering the building with the intention of committing the crime of arson;
- Attempted arson, relating to the first fire;
- A second charge of aggravated burglary, relating to his second entry into the building with the intention of committing the crime of arson;
- Unlawfully setting fire to property, namely the carpet; and
- Unlawfully injuring property, namely the broken window and the wall sheeting.
Mr Smith was 31 years old on the day in question and is now 32. He has a young daughter, but has no contact with her. He has a number of prior convictions. They include convictions for property damage offences, but none relating to fires. He has served short sentences of imprisonment in 2019 and 2022.
I have been provided with a detailed report from a forensic psychologist in relation to Mr Smith. It is clear that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as the result of exposure to his mother’s violence towards his step-father. 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. His mental health would be very likely to deteriorate if he were sent to prison. He has taken steps to enrol in the Salvation Army’s Bridge Programme 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.
In the circumstances, I do not think that it would be appropriate to send him to prison. A probation officer has reported that he is considered unsuitable for Court-ordered community service, but that he is considered suitable for supervised probation. In the circumstances, the most appropriate course is for me to impose a wholly suspended sentence and to make a community correction order.
Ashley Peter Smith, I convict you and sentence you to six months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 12 months. I make a community correction order, to operate for 12 months from today, with special conditions that during that period (a) you must submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer; (b) you must undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol and/or drug dependency as directed by a probation officer; (c) you must submit to testing for drug and/or alcohol use as directed by a probation officer; (d) you must attend, participate in, and complete the EQUIPS Addiction Programme as directed by a probation officer; and (e) you must submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer. I order that you pay Homes Tasmania Pty Ltd compensation for the damage suffered by it, and adjourn the assessment of that compensation sine die.