STATE OF TASMANIA v KYLE SCOTT MIDDLETON 26 MARCH 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
Mr Middleton you have pleaded guilty to one count of attempted arson, one count of unlawfully setting fire to property and one count of attempting to unlawfully set fire to property. The crimes arise from an incident which occurred in the early hours of the morning of 19 October 2025.
At that time, you were living in Roseberry. The complainant and his son also lived in Roseberry. At around 2 am you walked to the complainant’s home. You had with you a red jerry can half full with petrol and two home made molotov cocktails. You had made the molotov cocktails from beer bottles which were half filled with petrol and then had a chux kitchen cloth inserted into the neck as a wick. You were wearing a motorcycle jacket and full faced motorcycle helmet.
Upon arrival you placed the two molotov cocktails on the ground near a power pole. You then entered into the complainant’s property and poured petrol from the jerry can over the complainant’s motor vehicle which was parked in the driveway. You then moved further up the driveway and poured petrol over an unstacked pile of firewood, the edge of which was approximately two metres from the car. You then poured petrol over the complainant’s son’s boat which was also parked in the driveway of the residence between the house and a quantity of stacked firewood. You poured petrol over the porch area of the residence, some planter boxes and the front door. You then poured a line of petrol back along the pathway towards where you had placed the molotov cocktails.
You lit one of the molotov cocktails and threw it towards the motor vehicle. It struck the right front lower corner of the driver’s door. The bottle broke and a fire started. That fire caused extensive damage to the front right side of the vehicle and to the wiring and plastic components within the engine bay. This act constitutes the crime of unlawfully setting fire to property. You threw the second molotov cocktail onto the front right corner of the roof of the house. The bottle did not break but it caused a fire which scorched the roof of the home together with the metal flashings and metal guttering. The structure itself did not catch fire. This act constitutes the crime of attempted arson.
You stood and watched the fires for some time until the complainant, who had heard the molotov cocktail land on the roof, came outside. When you saw him, you left the area. The complainant was able to extinguish the fires by pouring water onto them and patting them out with his hands. He had to use a ladder to access the fire on the roof. He rang the Fire Service, but by the time they arrived, he had extinguished both fires. In doing so, he suffered burns to his right forearm and his right foot. It took approximately one month for the burns to heal but he has now made a full physical recovery.
Whilst the boat did not catch fire, the petrol that was poured onto it led to irreparable damage. The boat is now unusable. The boat was valued at $2,000. You accept that when you poured petrol onto the boat you were hoping that it would catch fire along with the house and motor vehicle. This constitutes the crime of attempting to unlawfully set fire to property. The motor vehicle was also deemed irreparable. It was valued at $5,000. The damage to the roof was limited. Costs of repairs were approximately $1,000.
The complainant’s residence was fitted with CCTV cameras. It captured the incidents that I have just described, although that footage alone was not capable of identifying you as the perpetrator. Further CCTV footage from businesses in the area identified you walking in the direction of the complainant’s home carrying the red jerry can and other items. Police subsequently searched your home and found the motorcycle helmet and the motorcycle jacket. They also found two homemade molotov cocktails in a very similar form to those which had been used in commission of the crimes.
You were arrested. You took part in a record of interview. During that interview you made full admissions. You told police that you went to the complainant’s home with the intention of burning it to the ground and destroying everything within it. You also said you wanted to destroy the vehicle and the boat. You told police you wanted to cause harm to the complainant because he was selling illicit drugs and because he was a “freemason and therefore a paedophile”. I will return to your state of mind at a later stage. It is obvious from the comments that you made that this was a targeted attack upon the complainant specifically aimed at causing extensive property damage, and considerable harm, to the complainant. It is a concerning aspect of your conduct that you poured petrol around the porch and front door area of the residence. Given it was the early hours of the morning and it could reasonably be expected that the complainant would be at home and asleep. You obviously expected a fire to take hold in that area thereby preventing his escape from the home via the most obvious means – the front door. Those observations having been made, I accept your mental health was very poor at the time and therefore the extent to which such factors impact upon your moral culpability needs to be tempered.
It is also noted that although the actual property damage that was occasioned is relatively moderate compared to what is often seen in crimes of this nature, it was the actions of the complainant that limited the damage. Had he not awoken and bravely attended to extinguishing the fires, it is reasonable to infer that the damage to the property would have been far more extensive, and it is likely that your intention to set fire to the house and boat would have been realised.
You are 31 years of age. You have been remanded in custody since 19 October 2025. You have a complicated psychiatric history stemming from several traumas that you have experienced throughout your life. Your childhood was a difficult one. You were raised in Queensland. Your parents separated when you were relatively young. You were exposed to sexual abuse from a sibling and also one of your mother’s partners You were bullied at school and left mainstream schooling before completing your year 10 education. You ran away to Sydney before joining the Australian Defence Force when you were aged 17. You experienced a number of traumas in that employment. You saw several friends and colleagues seriously injured during training incidents. You also experienced the loss of two colleagues who suicided whilst you were deployed with them in the Australian Defence Force. You developed significant mental health difficulties. Ultimately you were discharged from the Australian Defence Force for psychological reasons. You have experienced suicidal ideation attempting suicide in 2015 and then again 2022. You eventually received a compensation payout from the Defence Force and relocated to Tasmania, purchasing a home in Roseberry. You developed a relationship. You and your partner had a child. That relationship broke down towards the end of 2024, early 2025. Following the breakdown of your relationship there was a further deterioration in your mental health marked by erratic behaviour and delusional thoughts. Your mental health decline was also in the context of heavy illicit drug use, particularly cannabis. From around March 2025 concerns about your mental health were being noted. In March 2025 your mother contacted the Mental Health Crisis and Assessment Team expressing concerns that your behaviour had become quite erratic. It seems no formal assessment was undertaken at that time. In October 2025 the Mental Health Crisis and Assessment Team received a call from police in Roseberry indicating they held concerns about your increasingly unusual behaviours. Although it seems there was some discussion about mechanisms by which you might be brought under the provisions of the Mental Health Act, again nothing was formally done. Six days later this offending occurred. It was apparent from both your demeanour, and comments made, during the record of interview that your mental health was unstable around the time of the offending. When you entered custody on 19 October 2025, it was noted by medical staff at Risdon Prison that your mental health state was “significantly compromised”. This resulted in a period of involuntary treatment under the Mental Health Act at the Wilfred Lopez Centre. After a two week admission your mental health stabilised and you were returned to remand. You continue to be subject to a treatment order pursuant to the provisions of the Mental Health Act.
I have received a detailed report from Dr Michael Jordan dated 16 February 2026. In that report he opines that the history recorded is consistent with your mental state beginning to change from early 2025. By March 2025 it is noted that you were beginning to experience auditory hallucinations and believed other people in the town of Roseberry were able to telepathically understand your thoughts. You were also expressing bizarre thoughts in respect to freemasons. You had developed the idea that the complainant was a freemason. You also believed that the complainant was providing you with cannabis that had been altered by the inclusion of other substances. Dr Jordan notes that your behaviour and some of the comments that you made during the record of interview is consistent with you being in a state of psychosis at the time. He is of the view that the period of psychosis that you were experiencing was most likely of a duration of between nine to twelve months prior to your criminal conduct. He opines that at the time of the crimes you were suffering from persecutory psychotic ideas consistent with you subsequently being given a diagnosis of “brief reactive psychosis” when you were admitted to the Wilfred Lopez Centre.
Dr Jordan’s report addresses the specific Verdins domains. He opines that at the time of the criminal conduct “it is considered likely that the particular idea was one of a number of persecutory themes that were at play affecting the trajectory of his thinking and his actions over the weeks and months before the offending. It is considered that without those psychotic features to his presentation, the serious offences are unlikely to have occurred .… although some uncertainty remains around the exact aetiology and cause of his psychotic episode, and a portion of that aetiology may well relate to his use of cannabis, with or without it being potentially mixed with another substance, the depth and the nature of his psychosis may give grounds to reducing his moral culpability. It is considered that the actions that he took were wholly uncharacteristic for Mr Middleton”. I note that Dr Jordan’s last comment is consistent with the fact you have no relevant prior criminal history.
In short, Dr Jordan is of the view that there is a clear nexus between the effects of your mental disorder and the offending behaviour. I accept the opinion of Dr Jordan. There is no reason not to. I am satisfied that there is a causal link between your mental health difficulties and your offending behaviour to the extent that moral culpability is reduced somewhat. Considerations of general deterrence and denunciation, which would normally weigh heavily in a sentencing exercise such as this also needs to be moderated. You are not an appropriate vehicle through which to convey strong notions of general deterrence.
This sentencing exercise necessitates the balancing of many considerations. On the one hand this is serious criminal conduct. The complainant suffered damage to his home, financial loss and injury; but of course the consequences could have been far worse. Your behaviour carried considerable risk not only for the complainant but for the broader community had the fire taken hold. On the other hand, the offending occurred in the context of what I am satisfied was a significant mental health episode, most likely exacerbated by your consumption of cannabis, but even bearing that in mind it is obvious from the material which underpinned Dr Jordan’s opinion, that your mental health directly contributed to the offending. You are now receiving treatment for your mental health, you are subject to an ongoing order pursuant to the provisions of the Mental Health Act. In my view, an individualised approach to sentencing is warranted. The seriousness of the crime demands the imposition of a period of imprisonment but because of the circumstances that were impacting upon you, I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend a significant portion of the period of imprisonment.
Mr Middleton, you are convicted of the crimes to which you have pleaded guilty. You are sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 14 months commencing 19 October 2025. The balance of that sentence of imprisonment will be suspended from today for a period of two years on two conditions. Firstly, that you are not to commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during that period, and secondly, that you comply with all directions given to you pursuant to any order made in respect to you under the provisions of the Mental Health Act.
I note I would have made a Community Correction Order in respect to you but my experience is that community corrections are simply not situated to assist an individual who has the complex mental health conditions that you have. It is unlikely in my view that they would be able to add anything additional than that which is being provided by way of order under the provisions of the Mental Health Act..
I make a compensation order in favour of Mr Frank Dinkelman in the sum of $6,000. I make a compensation order in favour of Mr Luke Christianson in the sum of $2,000. I make a forfeiture order in respect to items 2, 4 and 5 on property seizure record receipt number 218500.