House burnt to deal with ‘evil energy’
A 28-year-old man says he destroyed his father’s Lyttelton house in a fire “to rid the property of evil energy”.
The huge fire sent flames 12m into the air above the two-storey house at the corner of Harmans Road and Bridle Path Road.
In the Christchurch District Court today, Bradley Gordon Schenkel, a builder of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to the arson charge.
Defence counsel Steve Hembrow told the court a health assessor’s report had already been done on Schenkel during his remand in custody since his arrest soon after the May 30 fire.
He told Judge Tom Gilbert: “You will see from the report it was a borderline mental health issue.”
Judge Gilbert remanded Schenkel in custody for a Crown sentencing on August 16, and referred the case for a restorative justice meeting. He asked for a pre-sentence report to consider his suitability for home detention but said there were “no promises” about the sentence.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Berryman said Schenkel went to his father’s house sometime on the morning of the fire. He checked no-one was home before he went inside and tried to sleep.
Schenkel said he woke up feeling angry. He searched the property and found two containers of petrol in a garden shed. He poured the petrol on the kitchen bench and wall, and on a book shelf in the living area.
He then turned on the LPG on the gas hobs in the kitchen and tossed a match into the petrol.
He had to run from the house to escape the huge flash from the petrol igniting. He waited for a bus a few hundred metres away and watched the fire.
When interviewed by police, he said he had “reached the end of his tether”, Sergeant Berryman said. “He said he set fire to the house to rid the property of evil energy.”
Category: Focus
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