Man facing prison term after range of Balclutha offences

A Southland man facing four Balclutha arson charges made a brief appearance in the Christchurch District Court on his way to a sentencing that is expected to bring him a prison term.

Christopher Lee Palmer and his court files had been sent to Christchurch from Greymouth after he was arrested at Kumara a month ago.

Judge Phillip Moran remanded him at the Greymouth District Court for transfer to Christchurch and Palmer appeared before the same judge yesterday on a total of 14 charges.

Palmer (36) will stay in custody while pre-sentence reports are prepared. His case was remanded to March 14, but the reports will not be completed by then, and that session will only set a date for his sentencing.

Palmer faces four shoplifting charges, three burglaries, four arsons, a breach of release conditions, a breach of bail, and driving while prohibited.

He pleaded guilty during a Greymouth status hearing when Judge Moran indicated the length of the likely jail term that would be imposed.

The arsons were all committed in Balclutha on October 5, and police say they could all have had catastrophic results.

He set alight a shed just 1.5m from the kitchen of a house in which there were four adults and two children.

He set fire to a rubbish skip next to an oil-filled transformer, which could have exploded. The fire blistered the paint on the transformer.

He then set alight a rubbish bin and the cab of a truck parked in the urea fertiliser bay at South Otago Transport. If it had spread, the combination of burning diesel and fertiliser could have produced a massive explosion.

The shoplifting offences and burglaries had been committed in the Balclutha area in August.

When Palmer was stopped at Kumara for driving while prohibited, it was discovered he was on the run from all the other charges. It is understood the total reparation figure for the offending is $13,000.

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