Woman asked if there was an ‘arsonists anonymous’ after unit fire

By Anna McGuinness

May 29, 2022

Corrections order: A Shepparton woman, 43, has been placed on a community corrections order after pleading guilty to arson. Photo by AAP Photo

A woman who burnt down her social housing unit in Shepparton two years ago has been placed on a community corrections order after facing the County Court.

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Leanne Kimberley Charles, 43, pleaded guilty to one charge of arson.

The court heard Charles, an Aboriginal woman, had endured a difficult and traumatic history with substance abuse and mental health problems, including diagnosis with borderline personality disorder.

She had the first of her five children when she was 16 and developed a heroin addiction before losing her partner in a high-speed car chase.

The court heard all her children had been taken out of her care and she had a significant criminal record going back to 1999, including being placed in jail on a number of occasions.

But Judge Elizabeth Gaynor accepted her life had turned around since the arson incident.

The court heard Charles now had new housing and NDIS support and a neuropsychologist concluded she was now in a different psychological state.

“My concern is your situation has improved so much, you have stabilised so much — particularly through the auspices of the NDIS — that I am reluctant to interrupt this,” Judge Gaynor said.

“Given the appropriate supports are in place and you are no longer abusing drugs in the way you were, I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as having very much improved.”

Charles was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order subject to supervision and judicial monitoring.

She will be required to complete treatment and rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol and mental health difficulties, and to undergo offender programs.

During the sentencing hearing on May 24, the court heard Charles had been drinking alcohol and taken Valium before her unit was severely damaged by fire on June 9, 2020.

The two-bedroom unit on Railway Parade was owned by what was then known as the Department of Health and Human Services.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing Charles crying and yelling outside the unit and hearing a loud bang before the home was taken over by flames.

The court heard Charles told police at the scene the fire had not been lit on purpose but she had kicked over a candle because it wouldn’t go out.

Charles was arrested and interviewed, during which she asked a police officer whether there was an “arsonists anonymous”.

An arson chemist investigated the scene and concluded there were two fires, probably ignited directly by a match or a cigarette lighter.

Judge Gaynor denied an application by the Department of Health and Human Services for Charles to repay about $150,000, saying there was no way she could repay it.