Australian arson suspect charged

MELBOURNE, Australia - Police charged a man with deadly arson yesterday in one of southern Australia's wildfires and put him in protective custody as survivors expressed fury that anyone could set such a blaze.

The charges were connected to a fire near the town of Churchill, about 125 miles from Melbourne, that killed at least 21 people. It was one of hundreds of blazes that blackened 1,500 square miles in Victoria state.

Authorities also yesterday doubled the property toll, saying more than 1,800 homes had been destroyed in the Feb. 7 blazes. Officials say 181 people have been killed and expect that total eventually to exceed 200.

The suspect, whose identity was banned from publication by a magistrate because of the risk of reprisal attacks, was charged with one count of arson causing death, one of intentionally lighting a wildfire, and one of possessing child pornography, police said.

Detectives arrested the man near Churchill and questioned him for several hours before he was formally charged, police said. He was then taken to Melbourne, where another hearing was set for Monday, and was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Residents who lost their homes expressed their anger at anyone who might have ignited the brushfires.

"Words can't describe how I feel about them," said Ruth Halyburton of Marysville. "I'm a Christian, but I don't think too kindly of people if they go light a match and destroy people's property and lives."

Gavin Wigginton, who lost his Callignee home to the fire allegedly set by the suspect, said: "If this person is not insane, then I think he should be in jail for a very long time. If he's culpable, if he's all there, he must have known that this was going to kill people, and that clearly is murder."

If found guilty, the suspect faces a maximum 25 years in prison for the deadly-arson charge and up to 15 years on the second fire charge. The pornography charge carries a five-year term.

Experts say arson can be hard to prove because physical evidence disappears in the fire. Even more difficult is proving murder by arson, since wildfires often join one another, they say.