Threatening note left pinned to house burnt in arson attack
Date
September 20, 2014 - 12:40PM Goya Dmytryshcha
Senior Sergeant Tim Hardman, left, says police are not treating the fire as a hate crime. Photo: Paul Jeffers
A threatening note has been found outside a Doncaster house torched in an arson attack on Friday night.
Firefighters arrived at the vacant George Street house shortly before 10pm to find it engulfed in flames.
An A4 laminated note pinned to the front of the house carried an Islamic greeting and read in part: "ALERT ... your time has passed".
A threatening note was left pinned outside this Doncaster home that was the target of an arson attack. Photo: Paul Jeffers
It also read: "Only the beginning more to come here or homeland, your next move will determine our next attack. We strike above the neck".
But Senior Sergeant Tim Hardiman said police were not treating the arson attack as a hate crime.
"There were some comments written in that note which we do have some concern about but at this stage we're not treating it as anything other than a house fire and an arson," he said.
"It's something that we're investigating but we're not jumping to any conclusions.
"We are treating this as one single arson of a house. There's been no other incidents of a similar nature."
The house, which is the same street as a mosque, had been due to go to auction on Saturday.
It had planning approval for three townhouses, with the existing house due for demolition.
The arson attack came the day after Australia's biggest anti-terrorism raids in Sydney, with police alleging a plot to behead members of the public had been foiled.
Senior Sergeant Hardiman said police were not treating the crime any differently because of recent events or Australia's heightened terror alert.
"I'm unable to comment further as to whether we'll be speaking to any religious leaders," he said.
Jellis Craig director Daniel Bullen said, as was the case with any arson attack, the homeowners would need to be cleared of suspicion by police before the property could be sold.
"Once they clear them, then they're clear to sell it, but if the investigators find them guilty of any wrongdoing then clearly they won't be able to sell it, it will be an ongoing investigation.
"It will have to be demolished but it was going to be demolished anyway for whoever bought it.
"So, the people who were going to buy it today were purely people that were just going to knock it over and rebuild their townhouses because the permits have already been approved."
Sheikh Gul Saeed Shah, Imam of the Doncaster mosque in the same street, said the local community had a harmonious relationship.
"Muslims in Australia are not with these same people that are doing everything in the name of Islam," he said.
"These people do not represent Islam and they're damaging the Muslim community themselves."
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
