(a) Whenever any person shall cut down, girdle, or otherwise injure, or carry off any tree, timber, or shrub on the land of another person, or on the street or highway in front of any person's house, village, town, or city lot, or cultivated grounds, or on the commons or public grounds of the Virgin Islands or highways in front thereof, without lawful authority, in an action by such person or by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands against the person committing such trespasses, or any of them, if judgment is given for the plaintiff it shall be given for treble the amount of damages allowed or assessed therefor, as the case may be.
(b) If upon the trial of such action it appears that the trespass was casual or involuntary, or that the defendant had probable cause to believe that the land on which such trespass was committed was his own or that of the person in whose service or by whose direction the act was done, or that such tree or timber was taken from uninclosed woodland for the purpose of repairing any public highway or bridge upon the land or adjoining it, judgment shall only be given for single damages.