Investment banker Matthew Schofield was in "celebratory mood" after setting fire to a colleague at the Merrill Lynch Hawaiian Christmas party, the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.
But moments later the full horror of how badly his prank had gone wrong became evident.
Gareth MacFadyen staggered from men's toilets at QuayWest Towers in Albert St charred and blackened, his head "glowing like a cigarette," according to the Crown Solicitor for Auckland, Simon Moore.
Schofield, aged 27, has admitted the manslaughter of Mr MacFadyen, 24, who died from his injuries after his grass skirt was set alight.
He has also pleaded guilty to injuring 29-year-old Angela Offwood, who was badly burned.
Justice Rodney Hansen will sentence Schofield next week.
The Crown, also represented by Simon Mount, says that incidents during the evening of December 15 involving Schofield's use of his lighter are aggravating features for the judge to consider.
Schofield had set fire to Mr MacFadyen's costume earlier.
Some witnesses had said it briefly caught alight but a former Merrill Lynch employee, Anthony Urlich, told the court that just one strand of the grass skirt burned slowly, and that Mr MacFadyen extinguished it by pouring some of his drink on it.
Cross-examined by Schofield's lawyer, Stuart Grieve, QC, appearing with Maria Pecotic, Mr Urlich agreed that no one was upset by the prank, though one of the bar staff reprimanded them.
Mr Urlich said that later there was some joking and laughter about what Mr MacFadyen and Angela Offwood were doing together in a cubicle of the men's toilet.
Mr Moore, in his opening remarks to the judge, had said that despite the speculation by male partygoers, the couple were fully clothed throughout.
He said the pair were joking about their situation and discussing the future of Merrill Lynch, where redundancies had been announced.
It was while the couple were in the cubicle that Schofield lit Mr MacFadyen's skirt under the door.
Mr Urlich told the judge that he saw Schofield raise his arms in a "celebratory mood," saying "I've lit his skirt, I've lit his skirt."
Seconds later, there was a loud noise and Mr MacFadyen emerged.
Mr Urlich told Mr Grieve that when the pair were in the toilets, the males were making humorous inferences about what was happening.
He agreed that Schofield's comment was made in that context.
