A Dunedin man set his mother’s house on fire by flicking matches on to a pile of clothes believing he was performing “magic tricks”. The defendant, aged in his 40s, appeared in the Dunedin District Court last week after admitting a charge of intentional damage. The court heard the defendant was living at the Waimea Ave address in Calton Hill with his mother. On August 20, 2024, the defendant was in the living room while his mother was in her bedroom. He started striking matches, causing them to catch alight before landing on the carpet near him. He described it as “flicking matches” and performing a “magic trick”. The defendant put the first match out by stomping on it, but a second match landed on a pile of clothes. He then went to a nearby supermarket, but meanwhile the match had set the pile of clothes on fire. The blaze caught on a curtain and quickly spread through the house, burning the ceiling and shattering the window. The defendant’s mother left the house and nobody was injured, but the Waimea Ave address was rendered uninhabitable. The defendant told police he was only performing a magic trick and he thought the flame would naturally be extinguished because the clothes were damp. At sentencing last week, the court heard the defendant had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and while psychologists found he was not “insane” at the time, he was unwell. Counsel Andrew Dawson said his client regretted the offending and had been struggling with homelessness since. Judge Hermann Retzlaff said the offending was heavily mitigated by the defendant’s mental health diagnosis. He needed support, medication and ongoing treatment, the judge said. Judge Retzlaff sentenced the defendant to eight months’ imprisonment and made him a special patient. This meant the sentence would start in a hospital, but if the defendant’s mental health improved to the point where hospitalisation was no longer required, he would be transferred to a prison. “The primary point of this sentence is that … you receive the treatment you require,” the judge said. felicity.dear@odt.co.nz
