Experts quizzed over fire cause in Kerikeri arson trial

A Kerikeri man is accused of starting a blaze which destroyed this Waipapa Rd shed packed with sound and lighting equipment. Photo / File

Jurors in the trial of a Kerikeri man accused of burning down his own shed packed with sound and lighting equipment spent Thursday listening to competing theories of how the blaze could have started.

Anthony (Tony) Norman Harrison is on trial in the Kaikohe District Court on two charges of arson arising from a blaze which destroyed the shed on Waipapa Rd on October 24, 2017.

The Crown case is that Harrison started the fire himself, intending to claim the insurance money. Evidence shown so far by the prosecution includes CCTV footage showing smoke emerging from a roller door one minute after Harrison left the shed and drove away.

The defence case is that Harrison didn't start the fire, hasn't claimed insurance for the business, and was uninsured for personal belongings destroyed in the fire.

Much of Thursday was taken up with evidence from fire investigator Russell Joseph, who found an incendiary had been used to start the fire in two different places inside the shed.

Defence lawyer Michael Dodds, however, put forward another theory, saying it could have been started by spontaneous combustion of rags soaked in linseed oil which Harrison had used to clean equipment.

Joseph agreed that cotton rags soaked in linseed oil could indeed combust under certain conditions, and said he would have considered that had the defendant told him about it at the time.

However, he would have rejected it as a possible cause because the interval between Harrison leaving the shed and smoke appearing from the top of the roller door — 58 seconds — was too short for spontaneous combustion to occur.

There was also some debate as to whether spontaneous combustion could have already been under way for some time, and whether it was possible it could have gone unnoticed.

The trial is being heard before Judge John McDonald and a jury of eight women and four men.