A delusional transient man was so paranoid people were out to get him, he barricaded himself in a room and set fire to his pillow, a court has heard.
Jon Jacob Stuart, a 39-year-old orchard worker, first came to the attention of police earlier on August 20 when he was at Dunedin’s KFC restaurant.
Stuart attracted the attention of authorities by frantically expressing unfounded fears that he was being pursued.
The Dunedin District Court this week heard police remained with the anxious man for some time until they were satisfied his fears had been allayed.
Stuart asked if he could spend the night in the police cells but officers said that was not an option.
Instead they took him to the Dunedin Night Shelter.
"Police thought the moment might have passed," Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said.
"But it reared its head again later in the night."
While inside the Lees St room, Stuart, believing people were outside, bent on causing him harm, dismantled the bed and barricaded himself inside.
The defendant set his pillow alight and when a staff member came to find out what was happening, he told them: "get the police, the place is on fire."
The blazing pillow became wedged in a gap in the window and was eventually removed by a passer-by and thrown to the ground.
Stuart explained at the time that he had set the fire because he wanted someone to call police.In court this week he confirmed he had not been on medication at the time.
Counsel John Westgate said his client might have been taking "something else".
"It was depression and everything mounted up on me," Stuart told the court.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful damage, which was originally laid as arson.
Among five pages of criminal history, Stuart had four previous similar convictions, Judge John Macdonald said.
"This was all rather unfortunate," he said.
Luckily, though, the judge noted, there was no damage to the building.
Stuart was jailed for eight months.
He planned to move back to Gisborne once he was released, the court heard.
