An Australian man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison after setting his former employer on fire. David Scott, 32, claimed Anthony Charles Wray made a pass at him.

Last July, Scott was working for Wray as a shearer at a farm in Kalannie, Western Australia, and lived in adjacent cabin. Waiting for his boss to fall asleep, Scott doused Wray in diesel fuel and sent a fireball rocketing into his caravan on a burning broom.

Judge David Parry called the attack "bizarre."

The farmhand said he attacked his boss for making "unwanted homosexual advances" towards him, but according to Judge Parry, “The jury obviously did not accept your version of events.”

Scott was sentenced to five years and four months but will be eligible for parole.

The gay panic defense has been outlawed in most of the country but it still accepted in South Australia.