He was on an invalid's benefit because of his intellectual disability. He was reclusive, had poor personal hygiene, rarely changed clothes, and did not go out much. The court will later hear evidence that he had the intelligence of a 12-year-old child.
Stephen Ewart died in December 2017 after allegedly accidentally setting himself alight. A woman is now on trial on manslaughter and arson charges. Photo / Supplied
Ewart had previously lived next door to the accused in Mt Roskill, where she befriended him. He had referred to her as his girlfriend, niece and daughter, though she was none of those things.
The woman took advantage of Ewart's disability and consequent shortcomings, in particular his extreme loyalty and his inability to think through the consequences of his actions, the court heard.
Citing two previous incidents, Johnstone said the woman had a tendency to take revenge when she felt people had wronged her.
In 2008, aged 17, she broke up with her boyfriend at the time. Upset and angry at him, she arranged for someone to set fire to his car while it was outside his house.
In 2016, she was living with her mother in a flat in Mt Roskill. Her parents were having a dispute and her father was seeking a divorce.
The woman falsely accused two of her father's friends of coming to the flat to assault her. She asked Ewart, her neighbour at the time, to make up a story about witnessing the assault.
"After coaching, he went through with it," Johnstone said.
Police charged one of the friends with committing serious offences after Ewart identified one of them as being at the flat.
It took nearly a year for the charges to be dropped, after GPS and mobile data showed he was nowhere near the flat on the day.
That incident showed how the woman was prepared to take advantage of Ewart, Johnstone said.
In 2017, the woman's mother became involved in a dispute with the landlord of the Mt Roskill flat. Harcourts, which was managing the property, took legal action to end the tenancy.
The woman was upset and decided to take revenge, again relying on Ewart.
"Relying on Mr Ewart's particular shortcomings, she was able to persuade him to light fire under the flat where she had lived," Johnstone said.
After being coached, Ewart went to the flat with milk bottles filled with petrol - provided by the woman - which he spilled on himself. When he attempted to light the fire at the property, the spilled petrol or vapours ignited and he was killed almost immediately.
"This is the situation in which the Crown is saying that [the woman] killed Mr Ewart," Johnstone said.
"He was doing just what she had coached him to do."
The accused and her lawyer Sam Wimsett in the Auckland High Court today. Photo / Michael Craig
Defence lawyer Sam Wimsett, in his opening statement, said Ewart's death was a tragic event but his client had no role in it.
She did not coach him, form a plan with him, or help him light the fire, he said.
Wimsett said the Crown's argument that the woman had previously taken revenge in two other cases was also false..
He said that Ewart had witnessed her being indecently attacked at her former flat, contrary to the Crown's claim that it was a false complaint.
The woman had also not arranged for someone to set fire to her ex-boyfriend's car, he said. Evidence would show that an electrical fault led to the fire.
The woman spoke briefly at the start of the trial to say "not guilty" to the charges, shaking her head.
The trial, before a jury of six women and six men, is set down for three weeks.
