From 2013-2017, the number of people imprisoned in Australia for drug crimes increased faster than people imprisoned for any other type of crime. Individuals suspected of selling or using drugs in Australia make up 15% of all prisoners. Like the United States, people of color in Australia are far more likely to be refused bail, instead being detained on remand awaiting trial. If you are a ‘serious sex offender’ and part of the system, however, you’ll be given that bail no problem, and freed to commit more crime. Such is the case with a firefighter arrested this week for allegedly setting at least 17 fires causing massive damage.
Since September of last year, the world has watched as fires blazed across the beautiful Australian landscape, killing dozens, destroying hundreds of homes, and reducing millions of hectares of land to ash. Tragically, it is estimated that at least a billion animals have been killed as well.
“The fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees, but there is such a big area now that is still on fire and still burning that we will probably never find the bodies,” Nature Conservation Council ecologist Mark Graham told parliament recently.
Nearly half a billion animals have died in the Australian bushfires, 5 million hectares burned, at least 11 people dead. #NSWfires #NSWbushfires #bushfirecrisis pic.twitter.com/xxxetoNl2x
— Andrew Backhouse (@Andytwit123) December 30, 2019
As officials frantically searched for those who may be setting these fires, their investigation led them back to one of their own.
Police were able to link the firefighter to all 17 of the blazes as he wore a GPS tracking ankle bracelet as part of his bail conditions. After the 27-year-old was arrested this time, however, he’s finally being denied bail based on the seriousness of his crimes.
According to reports, detectives investigating suspicious bushfires under Operation Paringa arrested the man after raiding his home on Tuesday.
The still unnamed firefighter had been granted bail despite multiple alleged sex offenses, which police referred to as “serious.”
The attorney representing the firefighter denies his client’s involvement in any of the fires and argued the prosecution’s case was “obviously circumstantial” – and that the firefighter had actually been battling the bushfires he has been accused of lighting, according to the report.
However, on Wednesday, the judge struck down the firefighter’s application for bail after receiving 33 pages of alleged facts compiled from data collected by his tracking device.
Now, he will not be granted bail again and is not due in court until February.
Australian authorities have taken legal action against 180 people for the fires across the country since November but the consensus is that most of the fires are caused by drought conditions. According to the New South Wales Police, not all of the legal actions taken are for arson either.
Since Friday 8 November 2019, legal action – which ranges from cautions through to criminal charges – has been taken against 183 people – including 40 juveniles – for 205 bushfire-related offences.
Of note:
- 24 people have been charged over alleged deliberately-lit bushfires
- 53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban, and
- 47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.
In the case of the firefighter, however, his 17 alleged fires could’ve been prevented. If his sexual assault case was indeed as “serious” as they say, allowing him to roam freely and only tracking him after the fact, was not a very good idea. Sadly, however, it is par for the course when it comes to sex offenders.
Sex offenders across the globe often time receive the most insultingly lenient sentences—especially those who work for government.
As TFTP reported, in April of 2016, Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House under Clinton and Bush — and admitted child rapist — was sentenced to only 15 months in prison after he was caught paying his victims to keep quiet. However, he was released in 2017 — two months before finishing his already insultingly lenient sentence.
Hastert was sentenced, not for raping children, but for illegally structuring bank transactions in an effort to cover up his sexual abuse of young boys.
Hastert was an admitted serial child rapist, yet because he is a well-connected politician and former Speaker of the House, this vile man’s victims received no justice and he barely did 13 months in a club med prison. In fact, Hastert attempted to sue his victims for speaking out after he paid them to stay silent about their abuse.
As the Free Thought Project has previously reported, the problem of child sex trafficking goes all the way to the top in the UK as well. Sir Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was found by the police chief to be a pedophile. Just like what happens in the US, his vile crimes against children were allegedly ‘covered up by the establishment.’
Washington not only protects sex abusers but they use your tax dollars to silence their victims. Sadly, most people ignore at least half of all the abuse because blowhards in the media try to turn sex abuse into a partisan issue. Those on the left ignore the crimes of their party, just like those on the right claim sex abuse is a liberal issue. But as we’ve shown, there is no difference between a blue sex offender and a red one.
