Woman tried to blow up boyfriend‘s house bus

Photo: Ricky Wilson/Stuff.

A furious Waikato woman attempted to exact revenge on the man who had apparently wronged her by trying to set his house bus on fire.

But the actions of Katherine Yvette Warrington, 54, caused only minor damage to the bus, which was parked on the front lawn of a property in Te Aroha – and, eventually, led to her sentencing in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.

She had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of wilful trespass and intentional damage – downgraded from an original charge of arson – in relation to her actions on the evening of December 13, 2019.

Warrington and her victim had been in what Judge Philip Crayton described as a volatile relationship and, about a month before the incident that led to her court appearance, had been served a trespass notice to stay away from the property where the bus was parked.

Earlier that day she and her partner had a disagreement. She went to the property about 4pm, before leaving and returning about four hours later, when the bus owner and others who dwelt at the property were all inside the house.

She had with her a plastic bottle, filled with a petrol and a soaked rag stuffed into the bottle neck, which served as a wick.

She lit it, threw it under the bus and immediately departed.

Fortunately for the residents at the property, someone saw what Warrington was up to. The alarm was immediately raised with both the people inside the house and emergency services.

The fire damaged a small area of grass and just the paintwork, some wiring and a hose on the bus before it was completely extinguished.

The court was read a victim statement from a woman who lived inside the house, who said the incident had terrified her. She was particularly concerned for the welfare of her son, who was in a bedroom next to where the bus was parked at the time.

'I've never been so scared in my life,” she said.

Judge Crayton ordered some parts of the victim's statement be redacted, and also suppressed her name, address and occupation.

Publication of her particulars would, he said, 'cause undue hardship beyond mere embarrassment and disquiet” and potentially cause her to be targeted by other offenders.

Crown prosecutor Bayden Harris sought a starting point for sentencing of two years and three months in jail, while Warrington's counsel Glen Prentice asked for a one-year start.

The judge opted for 16 months as a starting point. He allowed a 15 per cent discount to reflect Warrington's guilty pleas, which came after a lengthy court process, and further deductions in acknowledgement of a positive pre-sentence report. She was at low risk of re-offending, and posed a low risk of harm to others, the report writer concluded.

This led to an end sentence of six months of community detention and 12 months of supervision.

'You could have absolutely no idea what would happen [when you lit the wick],” the judge told her.

'Luck was on your side this night. It may not be were you to make so dangerous a decision in the future.”

Judge Crayton also ordered Warrington to pay $500 in emotional harm reparation – which will be paid not to the victim, but to Women's Refuge.

-Stuff/Mike Mather.

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