A 32-year-old woman who twice tried to set fire to the home of a friend of her former partner was today jailed for 20 months.
Katrina Marie Cole, of Wellington, pleaded guilty in Wellington District Court to arson.
Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said Cole went to the Lower Hutt house, in which two women and a child lived, in the early hours of February 2.
After knocking on the door, she set the doormat on fire.
A neighbour saw the blaze and managed to stamp the fire out.
Cole later returned to the house and, seeing her first effort had failed, set fire to cardboard at the rear of the house.
Again, neighbours noticed the fire and put it out, the only damage being some scorching to the side of the house.
When apprehended, Cole told police she hated the "bitches" who lived there, and wanted them to suffer.
"I should have burnt the whole place down," she said.
Ms Boshier said the offending was malicious, determined and persistent.
Defence counsel Geoff Fulton said Cole was intoxicated at the time of the offending.
She did not remember a lot about it, but did accept she had an alcohol problem.
Mr Fulton advocated community based sentencing for Cole, who was looking after three children.
Judge Michael Behrens noted Cole was on medication for various problems, and on an invalid benefit as the result of a car accident some years earlier.
When the judge passed sentence, Cole's mother yelled out that it was not fair.
"She needs help, not imprisonment, sir," she said.
"She's a sick girl, she's been sick ever since the accident."
