An Australian court has jailed a man for recklessly sparking a 1,000-hectare bushfire while trying to destroy evidence of fuel theft.
In 2019, the man stole 200 litres of diesel fuel from a logging excavator near Hanging Rock along with his accomplice.
Before the pair left the scene to go camping, some fuel left behind was then set alight with a cigarette lighter.
The fire destroyed 1,042 hectares of the Tamworth region along with massive damage costs estimated to be between $1.1 and $1.7 million.
“To put this into perspective, it’s about 10.42 square kilometres that has been destroyed,” the magistrate said.
“I accept the extent of the damage, but the only consequences should be for acts that could have been reasonably foreseen,” said the man’s defence lawyer Kimberley Norquay-Evans.
“Any level of planning was only to destroy the evidence,” Norquay-Evans added.
As the man was 17 years old when he committed larceny, the judge sentenced him to 12 months in jail due to which he will be eligible for parole in five months.
(With inputs from agencies)
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