Neshar Cerell Jones, 43, had until now been defending a Crown charge of arson as a result of the August inferno.
However, in a pre-trial hearing in the Greymouth District Court last week she changed her plea to guilty.
She will be sentenced in October.
Police arrested Jones on September 17, more than a month after the August 10 fire, which took fire crews from as far as Moana and Ross several hours to extinguish.
According to the police summary of facts, Jones was living at the Seaview estate site at the time — about 250m away from the vacant hostel.
Shortly before 3.30am she left her house and took a can of oil from the back of a vehicle and carried it, along with a lighter, through the grounds to the large empty building formerly known as Kotuku Hostel.
Near the hostel, she located several road cones and arranged these on one of the roads situated to the southeast of the hostel.
She laid these down on the road to form an arrowhead pointing northward along the road.
She then rearranged more road cones and signs on the ground to form another arrowhead pointing at a dwelling beside the hostel.
Jones then entered the hostel and made her way to the right wing and used her lighter to set a curtain alight.
The curtain went up in flames but appeared to ‘‘not take off’’, the summary states.
Jones then poured oil throughout the right wing, the central corridor and various rooms of the hostel, then lit it on fire.
According to police, Jones panicked and dropped the oil can on the floor before running out of the hostel and back home.
The fire smouldered for a period of time before becoming established.
About 7am the building was discovered by a nearby neighbour well involved, fire and emergency services were called.
Initially there were concerns a person had been staying in the hostel overnight and a significant amount of resources went into searching for any signs of life.
That person was located safe elsewhere.
The building was razed in the fire.
It had been empty since 2024, but had previously housed unemployed or low-income residents.
When Jones later admitted her actions to police, she stated that she was sick of the methamphetamine problem at Seaview among other residents and wanted to do something about it.
She did not light the fire to harm anyone, she said.
While the vacant building was earmarked for demolition at a future date and no insurance involved, costs were incurred for the correct procedural disposal of asbestos, police said.
The destroyed Kotuku Hostel was owned by Seaview Terrace Estate Ltd, now trading as Seaview Lodge.
It was one of several buildings set for demolition under future plans to redevelop the hilltop site, once home to the Seaview psychiatric hospital. — Janna Sherman
