A Tauranga woman embittered after the relationship break-up with a man she had known for just a few days sought revenge by setting fire to the flat the pair had shared.
Josephine Christine Kryszkiewicz's revenge attack on February 2 this year extensively damaged the Miro St apartment which was owned by her ex-partner's grandmother causing at least $25,000 in damage.
Kryszkiewicz, 22, who pleaded guilty to a charge of arson in the Tauranga District Court on Friday, will be sentenced on October 26.
The police summary of facts revealed that in January this year Kryszkiewicz began a relationship with a man she met via an internet dating service and they moved into a Miro St flat.
Their relationship lasted only a couple of days and ended bitterly with both moving out of the flat they briefly shared.
On February 2, Kryszkiewicz was drinking with a friend in Whakatane before she drove back to Tauranga.
After buying $5 worth of petrol at the Gull service station in Hull Rd she headed to Blake Park where she parked and poured the petrol into a small drink bottle.
She then drove to Miro St, parked approximately 100m from the flat, walked inside the apartment, entering the bedroom she and the grandson had shared, and sprayed petrol around the room before setting it on fire.
The fire rapidly spread through the majority of the upper level of the house.
Kryszkiewicz then fled the apartment, ran back to her vehicle and drove off.
Neighbours alerted the fire servicebut the upper level of the house was extensively damaged.
When spoken to by police Kryszkiewicz admitted setting the fire, and said she had done so because the relationship had soured and it was the only way she could get back at the grandson.
She also conceded she knew other people lived in the apartment block but she was confident the fire would not spread to their apartments due to concrete walls that separate the flats.
Kryszkiewicz's lawyer Tony Balme told Judge Peter Rollo that he would be seeking a restorative justice meeting referral.
Judge Rollo, who agreed to further remand Kryszkiewicz on bail, called for a reparation report with the pre-sentence and restorative justice meeting reports.
