Man Burns His House, So His Ex Wife Won't Get It
Australian, Krste Kovacevski, burned down his house the day before it was going to be handed over to his ex-wife, Naumka Kovaceska, in a property settlement. He lost an appeal in which he argued that he didn't commit any crime by starting the fire.
K. Kovacevski and N. Kovaceska divorced in 2015 after being separated for several years.
On 22 July, 2016, a judge finalized the property settlement proceedings between the former couple and ordered K. Kovacevski to leave their cottage, where he since in 1991, and hand it over to N. Kovaceska within a couple of months.
K. Kovacevski signed the transfer agreement on 3 August. But after midnight on the morning of 4 August, he set the house on fire and it was completely destroyed.
According to court documents, K. Kovacevski confessed to starting the fire when police arrived at the scene and found him by a garage at the back of the property.
He was convicted of intentionally destroying with fire property belonging to either his ex-wife or both him and his ex-wife. He was sentenced to two years with a non-parole period of six months. He was released on appeal bail.
K. Kovacevski's appeal against the decision as dismissed in the NSW District Court by judge Andrew Haesler. K. Kovacevski argued that the property did not legally belong to his wife because she wasn't yet in possession of the house. So he legal right to burn it down.
Judge Haesler wrote that N. Kovacevska had ownership of the property starting since the Federal Court ruling in July 2016.
The decision noted that in New South Wales, people can legally destroy their own property with fire as long as they are not committing any other offenses by doing so.
However, this doesn't apply to K. Kovacevski because the house was ruled to belong to both him and his ex-wife at the time it was destroyed.
The decision says that K. Kovacevski did it so N. Kovacevska wouldn't have the full benefits of the property, and that he wasn't acting in belief that he had a legal right to what he was doing.
Comments from Allen:
This case says everything about why I do not handle divorce cases. It is quite true that the average person charged with felony possession of cocaine is more pleasant to deal with than the average person involved in a child custody dispute.
It is not unusual in hotly-contested divorce cases that one party will act irrationally, or even engage in criminal behavior. I recall one case (I did not represent either party) in which a man left his wife for his new girlfriend; he asked his wife to go ahead and sell his Porsche for him. She did, for $1.
In one case in which I was counsel for the husband, he told his wife he was going to file for divorce. Later that evening, she came home from working out at the local gym and intentionally fell backward upon the front bumper of his truck grille. The next day she told the police her husband had beaten her. I represented the husband after he had been arrested for felony domestic battery and the State wanted to put him in prison. He was acquitted by a jury, after it was revealed the wife had told neighbors and relatives earlier that if she ever wanted to get her husband arrested, all she needed to do was bruise herself (she had a physical condition in which a moderate touch to her skin would cause a dark bruise).
Our Aussie friend in this article is just one more contestant in the I'm-A-Jerk Hall of Fame contest. He was really trying to make a point, and he did. In life, you have the freedom to do anything. You just might have to pay for it. In this case, it looks like it will cost Mr. Kovacevski two years' residence in a large cinderblock house with roommates. I would like to see him try to burn down that house.
It is not unusual in hotly-contested divorce cases that one party will act irrationally, or even engage in criminal behavior. I recall one case (I did not represent either party) in which a man left his wife for his new girlfriend; he asked his wife to go ahead and sell his Porsche for him. She did, for $1.
In one case in which I was counsel for the husband, he told his wife he was going to file for divorce. Later that evening, she came home from working out at the local gym and intentionally fell backward upon the front bumper of his truck grille. The next day she told the police her husband had beaten her. I represented the husband after he had been arrested for felony domestic battery and the State wanted to put him in prison. He was acquitted by a jury, after it was revealed the wife had told neighbors and relatives earlier that if she ever wanted to get her husband arrested, all she needed to do was bruise herself (she had a physical condition in which a moderate touch to her skin would cause a dark bruise).
Our Aussie friend in this article is just one more contestant in the I'm-A-Jerk Hall of Fame contest. He was really trying to make a point, and he did. In life, you have the freedom to do anything. You just might have to pay for it. In this case, it looks like it will cost Mr. Kovacevski two years' residence in a large cinderblock house with roommates. I would like to see him try to burn down that house.
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Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen handles cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.
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