Arsonist strikes when stressed
It began with an argument over a bicycle. It ended with an arson that looked a lot like neighbourhood terrorism.
And that has led to a two-year three-month jail term for Jamie Anthony Clarke, a 22-year-old who is continuing to struggle after being born with an opiate addiction.
“This is a young man who gets stressed and lights fires. That’s what his record shows,” said Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams at Clarke’s Christchurch District Court sentencing.
Defence counsel Kirsten Gray told the court: “He had an unfortunate upbringing, and was disadvantaged as a consequence of his mother’s addictions.”
In 2012, Clarke was sentenced for a series of burglaries of abandoned homes, possession of tools for burglary, intentional damage for setting fire to chair and a tree, and arson for setting fire to the outside of a house which was damaged but not burnt down, and disorderly behaviour.
He was given a chance by the judge, with a sentence of community detention, 150 hours of community work, and $1500 reparations for the damage.
In June this year, Clarke was living at a city council housing complex in Middleton.
On June 5, he questioned a neighbour about moving his bicycle, and threatened to assault him if he moved it again. A struggle followed in which the pair fell onto a large cactus plant and both were injured. The neighbour was left in considerable pain.
Next day, the neighbour was resting at home when Clarke placed a 9kg gas cylinder on the porch outside his sliding door, put a yellow cloth over the top of it and set the cloth alight.
Another neighbour spotted it and put out the fire. The police said: “If he had not discovered the fire, serious damage to life and property could have ensued.” In fact, it damaged a plastic pot plant.
When the police went to the complex and arrested Clarke for the arson, he bolted across four lanes of Annex Road regardless of his own safety or the safety of the passing motorists. He was caught soon after.
Clarke had admitted charges of assault, escaping from police custody, and setting fire to property that endangered life.
The police sought reparations of $540 for the neighbour, for medical expenses that were not covered by ACC, the damaged plastic plant, and the cost of shifting house, and Judge MacAskill ordered Clarke to pay that amount.
The judge said Clarke’s actions had caused the neighbour considerable pain and discomfort and serious inconvenience.
He noted Clarke’s record included two assaults and three arsons. “Drug and alcohol use are the primary problem,” he said. He had received a letter from Clarke accepting responsibility, and accepting that imprisonment was inevitable.
Ms Gray had told the court that Clarke now wanted to get on and make something of himself. “He says he wants a normal life,” she said.
Category: News
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