Saturday, February 7, 2009

Pyroslaughter!

Australia is currently in the grip of terrible bushfires. Many lives have been lost. There are many ways to contribute to the support of the victims, one of which is through the purchase of cards or wall art from Phoenix Appeal on RedBubble.

The causes of bushfires range from lightening strikes through to mis-handled burnoffs. However, there is a cause which is all too common and that is the fire-bug. Pyromaniacs who start fires for some sort of perverted fun.

In a country such as Australia where a fire has a very high probability of killing homeowners, farmers or fire-fighters, I believe that those who start fires should be charged with Murder or attempted murder (if no-one actually dies). I fail to understand how anyone could argue that lighting a fire in this country does not represent significant risk to life and property. Any one who willfully starts a bushfire is guilty of (attempted) murder, and the law needs to take this approach.

Those who indulge in this insane passion know that the results are likely to be death for someone and therefore they should be held accountable.

It is time that murder was treated as murder.

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