A man who "literally used the shirt off his back" in an attempt to set fires around his ex-partner’s residence has been sent to prison.
Dwayne Andrew Clarke (35) was intoxicated on the night of March 27 when he arrived in an alleyway beside the victim’s house.
"You removed your T-shirt and you lit it on fire, and placed it on top of the victim’s fence," Judge Emma Smith said at Clarke’s sentencing in the Dunedin District Court last week.
Clarke walked away when he noticed a passerby looking at the burning shirt.
The witness stomped out the fire before returning home.
Clarke then returned and approached a car parked outside the same residence, T-shirt and lighter in hand.
He set the T-shirt alight again and placed it on the front passenger tyre.
Clarke was confronted by the owner of the car and arrested by police.
"You weren’t wearing a T-shirt but you did have possession of a lighter," said the judge.
"To know you are still stalking them, harassing them, and [trying to use fire] ... I think it’s a serious breach."
Counsel Andrew Dawson said Clarke had longstanding alcohol and substance issues, and was realistic about needing help from a rehabilitative provider once he left prison.
The offending seemed to be a direct result of Clarke’s "extreme level of intoxication", he said.
While the defendant clearly had a fixation on his ex-partner at the time, the crime was of a "makeshift nature" as he had used his own garment and a lighter he carried around because he was a smoker, Mr Dawson said.
The judge said Clarke’s cultural report was "stressful reading", detailing numerous family losses, all of which contributed to his misuse of substances.
"You say they don’t have to look over their shoulder for you again," Judge Smith said.
"Make that true."
Clarke could not afford to offend again, particularly against the same victim, she said.
He was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment on charges of attempted arson and breaching a protection order.
