Man lit fires at former workplace, court told

A former production manager at a Whangarei kitchen joinery company set fire to his old workplace in an act of revenge, a district court jury has heard.
The Crown alleges former Kitchens at Pat Gavin production manager Vincent Patrick James Leonard, 45, committed the offence because he was either disappointed with his last pay or attempted to destroy some paperwork.
The paperwork was for bar unit fittings delivered to the Waipu Golf Course and whose payments were queried by Pat Gavin owner Colin Gavin in a letter to Leonard.
Leonard has denied charges of burglary, arson and intentional damage of his former workplace on November 12, 2006.
He left Pat Gavin for another company about four months prior to the fire.
A five-day jury trial of seven men and five women jurors began in the Whangarei District Court yesterday.
In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Anna Patterson said about a week before he left the company, Leonard asked for his last pay slip from financial controller Colleen Hawlker.
However, Leonard was not happy with his pay, Ms Patterson said.
Ms Patterson said the Crown would present evidence that a bar unit worth about $4000 went to the Waipu Golf Course which Leonard told the club was free.
It was later paid for by the club.
Ms Patterson said on the morning of November 12, 2006, Leonard entered Pat Gavin's Porowini Ave premises and deactivated the alarm using Ms Hawlker's pin number before lighting fires at three places and damaging the electronics of three machines.
Offices of Mr Gavin and Ms Hawlker were among those that were damaged in the blaze.
She said Leonard then walked out the back door, after spending about 30 minutes in the premises.
Mr Gavin told the court Leonard started work as production manager in 2001 and left for better pay with another company based in Whangarei sometimes in mid-2006.
He said a fire exit door was unlocked when he arrived at the scene after the fire and keys to inside doors kept in one company vehicle were missing.
He discovered the machines had been tampered with the next morning after fire safety officers allowed him and his staff inside the building.
Mr Gavin said his business relationship with Leonard, who he thought left the company on good terms, was okay.
On the bar unit, he said Leonard explained to him it was to be charged with the jobs Pat Gavin would do for the club in future.
Judge John McDonald will visit the fire site today with the lawyers and jurors.