Troubled AFL star Daniel Kerr is accused of ‘setting a house on fire’ on the same day he was supposed to face court on domestic violence charges
Former AFL premiership star Daniel Kerr has been charged over a house fire in Perth on the same day he failed to show up in court on domestic violence charges.
Police will allege the troubled former West Coast Eagles star, 37, has links to an address in Kardinya where a fire broke out at about 4pm on Wednesday.
Kerr, whose father lives in the same area, was arrested by detectives in Cottesloe a short time later.
‘Police were advised of a house fire in Exley Close, Kardinya,’ a police statement read.
‘Department of Fire and Emergency Services personnel were already responding to the fire at that time.’
Daniel Kerr (pictured left with his sister, women’s soccer star Sam) has been charged over a house fire in Perth
He was charged with criminal damage by fire and refused bail to appear in Fremantle Magistrates Court later on Thursday.
There was no visible damage to the front of the home aside from a hold in one of the glass panels on the front door, which one neighbour said had been there for a while.
Most of the damage from the blaze appears to be at the rear at the home.
One man told The West said he saw the front door wide open with thick smoke billowing out.
‘It was quite scary and I was about to call 000 but another neighbour told me she already had,’ he told the publication.
‘Another neighbour was quite good and ran down and switched off the main power switch.’
‘There’s a hole in the door and one of the windows… there’s a damaged blind,’ Nine News Perth reporter Lucy McLeod told Radio 6PR.
Detectives from the arson squad arrived at the scene on Thursday morning.
Kerr was due to appear in court on unrelated domestic charges against his former partner on Wednesday but was a no show, with his lawyer telling the court he suffered an asthma attack, NCA NewsWire reported.
He gave a similar explanation at a previous court appearance.
Magistrate Lynette Dias accepted the claim but prosecutors have demanded a medical certificate.
Kerr was facing a string of offences including aggravated common assault, criminal damage, and with intent to harm did an act likely to endanger life.
Daniel Kerr was once one of the biggest stars in the AFL. Pictured is a victorious Kerr after the 2006 AFL grand final
The latest incident comes a year Kerr was found unconscious and intoxicated on a footpath in the main street of Kalgoorlie in the state’s Goldfields-Esperance region.
He taken to hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning, but discharged himself hours later, playing down the incident as ‘a bit of a joke’.
‘I wasn’t being violent, I wasn’t breaking the law, it was just a bit of fun. A bit of stupidity but nothing else to it,’ Kerr told Seven News at the time.
‘These days with the three kids [and] the businesses I’m running I don’t really get to let the hair down too much. I probably let it down a little bit too much this time.’
The former star midfielder played 200 games for the Eagles where he won a premiership in 2006 and is the older brother of Australian woman’s soccer star Sam Kerr.
He finished second to Eagles teammate Ben Cousins in the 2005 Brownlow count, and was runner-up again to Geelong Cats star Jimmy Bartel in 2007.
Pictured: Former AFL player Daniel Kerr talks to the media after leaving the WA Magistrates Court in Perth, Monday, July 06, 2015
