A West Coast man who firebombed his neighbour’s home with molotov cocktails because he believed the man was a ‘drug-dealing freemason’ has been released from custody.
Kyle Scott Middleton, 31, was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania after pleading guilty to attempted arson and two related fire-setting charges.
The court heard Middleton walked to a Rosebery home in the early hours of October 19, 2025, carrying a jerry can half-full of petrol and two beer bottles filled with petrol and fitted with cloth wicks.
He was wearing a motorcycle jacket and full-faced helmet.
Middleton doused a car, boat, firewood and front door with petrol before throwing one molotov at the car and another onto the roof of the house.
The car was destroyed and the boat written off. Damage to the roof was limited to scorching of the flashings and guttering.
The homeowner woke to the noise, put the fires out himself and suffered burns to his arm and foot.
Police later found a motorcycle helmet, jacket and two further homemade molotov cocktails at Middleton’s home.
In a police interview, Middleton told officers he had gone to the home with the intention of “burning it to the ground” and said he believed the target was selling drugs and was a “freemason and therefore a paedophile”.
Justice Tamara Jago said the homeowner’s quick action had prevented a much worse outcome.
“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,” she said.
The court heard Middleton had a background including childhood sexual abuse and trauma from his service in the Australian Defence Force, from which he was discharged for psychological reasons.
His mental health had deteriorated further following a relationship breakdown in late 2024.
A psychiatrist diagnosed him with brief reactive psychosis, likely worsened by heavy cannabis use and found he had been experiencing persecutory delusions for months before the attack.
Justice Jago accepted there was a clear “causal link” between Middleton’s illness and his actions and said this reduced his moral culpability.
Middleton was sentenced to 14 months in prison, backdated to October 19, 2025, with the balance suspended for two years.
He must commit no further offences, comply with his mental health treatment order and pay $8,000 in compensation – $6,000 to the homeowner and $2,000 to the owner of the boat.
