{"id":503579,"date":"2026-02-25T17:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/503579\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T17:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:45:12","slug":"wa-man-who-tried-to-set-police-officer-on-fire-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/503579\/","title":{"rendered":"WA man who tried to set police officer on fire sentenced to four years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man from Western Australia’s far north has been jailed for four years after he attempted to set a police officer on fire during a confrontation in Perth.<\/p>\n

Broome man Ian Wally faced the Perth District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to actions endangering the officer’s life and safety during the January 2025 incident.<\/p>\n

The court heard Wally, 49, had been using methamphetamine and drinking when he approached Royal Perth Hospital with a 5-litre jerry can full of petrol.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Footage from a police body worn camera shows when Ian Wally tried to set an officer on fire in Perth. (Supplied: WA Police)<\/p>\n

Holding the can and a lighter, Wally was seen fashioning a homemade wick at the hospital entrance, where he was confronted by hospital security staff.<\/p>\n

Wally left the facility, before dousing an empty taxi with petrol and threatening to set it on fire.<\/p>\n

He ran when approached by police, attempting to light the wick protruding from the jerry can when he caught, engulfing himself and a 30-year-old police constable in flames.<\/p>\n

Both men suffered burns from the incident.<\/p>\n

The incident was captured on body-worn camera footage from police officers who attended the scene.<\/p>\n

In the video, Wally can be seen refusing police officers’ calls to put the jerry can down, before setting it alight.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ian Wally was sentenced to four years in prison in the Perth District Court on Tuesday. (ABC News: Cason Ho)<\/p>\n

Officers quickly extinguished the jerry can, which was on fire on the footpath, as they made their arrest.<\/p>\n

Potential for significant injury<\/p>\n

Judge Carmel Barbagallo told the court Wally’s offending only came to an end when police intervened “at their own peril”.<\/p>\n

“It is only by sheer quick thinking and good luck the officer did not suffer more significant injuries as a result of his vulnerabilities,” she said.<\/p>\n

Judge Barbagallo said Wally acted in an inherently dangerous manner, and his behaviour had the potential to cause significant injury.<\/p>\n

“You were playing with fire, literally,” she said.<\/p>\n

The court heard Wally’s behaviour also put “many” people and surrounding property at risk, which contributed to the seriousness of his offence.<\/p>\n

He will be eligible for parole in 2027, with his sentence backdated to January 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man from Western Australia’s far north has been jailed for four years after he attempted to set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,253193,1108,2973,7770,253190,253194,24514,253195,44,46,86,1158,253192,44600,40205,253191,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-503579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-broome-man","11":"tag-court","12":"tag-courts","13":"tag-fire","14":"tag-ian-wally","15":"tag-jerry-can","16":"tag-kimberley-news","17":"tag-lighter","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-perth","20":"tag-perth-news","21":"tag-police","22":"tag-police-on-fire","23":"tag-sentence","24":"tag-sentencing","25":"tag-set-police-on-fire","26":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}