Police investigating a housefire on the North Coast have charged a teenager with murder.
Emergency services were called to a rural property in Smiths Creek, about 40km north west of Lismore, about 5.45pm on Sunday 16 August 2020, following reports a property was well alight.
Crews from the Rural Fire Service attended and took several hours to extinguish the blaze.
Officers from Richmond Police District attended and established a crime scene after the body of a man, aged 64, was located inside.
Detectives from Richmond Police District – with assistance from the State Crime Command – established Strike Force Kumulla to investigate the circumstances surrounding the cause of the blaze.
Today (Friday 28 August 2020), detectives arrested a 17-year-old male at a home in Kyogle.
He was taken to Casino Police Station where he was charged with murder, improperly interfere with a corpse and malicious damage by fire.
He was refused bail and will appear in a children's court at Parramatta tomorrow (Saturday 29 August 2020).
