Christopher Stephen Tilby, 50, and Kelly Leigh Kilpatrick, 37, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon having pleaded guilty to the arsons.
The court heard the pair were in a relationship at the time and Kilpatrick acted as a driver.
While she may have had knowledge of the blazes, counsel Anne Stevens KC said her client was coerced by Tilby.
“Knowledge does not equate to agency,” she said.
The first blaze took place in the early hours of November 14 when the couple – along with a third man – travelled to the derelict Glamis Hospital in Montpellier St.
Tilby gave the other man a lighter and he used accelerant to set fire to discarded items before they all left the scene and watched the aftermath from a nearby park.
Less than an hour later, they stopped at a secluded layby in Ocean Grove where a port-a-loo, surrounded by thick vegetation, was set alight.
On November 17, again under the cover of darkness, the group went to an abandoned brick building at the rear of a commercial premises in Harrow St.
An identical technique was used to start the fire, which caused such extensive structural damage, the property was expected to be demolished.
Less than an hour later, they targeted a Lees St house.
While it was unoccupied, a prosecution summary noted there were people living in adjacent buildings.
This time Tilby and the other man were armed with molotov cocktails.
One hit the exterior of the property and caused no damage but the second smashed through a bedroom window and started an inferno.
The trio watched the unfolding events from the car park of the Oval.
Shortly afterwards, they continued on to Brighton Rd where the men set fire to a dense wooded area.
Again, they were captured on CCTV leaving the area.
Tilby was also convicted of assaulting a young boy after a violent incident at a public swimming pool in Invercargill.
Judge Sellars noted Kilpatrick had left her children at home alone during the nights of the arson spree, but said that spoke more to Tilby’s control than her commitment as a parent.
She said the woman had developed a pattern of associating with older, abusive men and was working with counsellors to address her issues.
“She doesn’t have a criminal mindset . . . this is an aberration and can be explained,” Mrs Stevens said.
Tilby also had a tortured past.
Judge Sellars said a report on his background made for “alarming reading” and went some way to explaining his 30 pages of criminal history.
Among the incidents that had left Tilby with PTSD was a particularly distressing episode involving fire which he had experienced at the age of 5.
Counsel Deborah Henderson noted her client had been abusing substances since the age of 13 and had spent most of his adult life in prison.
However, she argued there were positive signs.
Before the arsons, Tilby had spent a year clean and Ms Henderson said it was only the breakdown of a long-term relationship that resulted in him relapsing.
The defendant described being “out of it” during the fire spree.
He was jailed for three years.
Kilpatrick was sentenced to six months’ community detention, 300 hours’ community work and 12 months’ supervision.
While she could have been disqualified from driving, Judge Sellars said that would have made fulfilling her parental responsibilities almost impossible.
The other man allegedly involved in the arsons will appear in court this month.
