Arsonist claims Linwood fire was ‘exorcism’
A convicted arsonist says he “exorcised” an evil house when he torched a building in Buckleys Road, Linwood.
The Crown doesn’t accept that. It says Tyrone Tipene Tawera more likely burned the house in revenge for his partner breaking up with him.
The house was quake-abandoned and earmarked for demolition, the Christchurch District Court was told at 52-year-old Tawera’s sentencing. He had admitted the arson charge.
Judge David Saunders jailed him for two years ten months and ordered him to pay $1000 as emotional harm reparations to his ex-partner for the personal items she lost in the fire. That included her children’s Plunket records and photographs of a relative who had died.
Defence counsel Josh Lucas told the court that Tawera believed he had exorcised a evil house when he burned the place down on July 23, 2013.
The abandoned house had been a mecca for drifters for years, and Tawera had stayed there on and off. He had known of stabbings, beatings, and sexual violence at the house. At the time he burnt it down it was still sometimes being used by a large number of people.
His partner stored some items at the house, and when she told Tawera that she was breaking up with him, he texted that he was going to burn down the house. He then went there, and set fire to a mattress using accelerant. He left when he was sure the house was ablaze.
Before setting the fire, he had gone inside and knew that no-one was asleep inside.
Mr Lucas said Tawera believed the house was “basically evil”. He had stayed there sometimes because he had nowhere else to go. The place was affecting his mental health and he believed he had “exorcised” it by burning it down.
Crown prosecutor Aja Trinder said the Crown did not accept Tawera’s claim that the house was evil. He could have made up that story to explain why he burnt his ex-partner’s possessions in a vengeful and spiteful attack.
Judge Saunders noted that had Tawera had 30 convictions for driving while disqualified and 13 for drink-driving, but none in recent years. Probation put his problems down to his lifestyle, mental health issues, alcohol and drug dependency, an impulsive nature, and poor problem-solving skills.
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