Firestarter dwarf spared prison spell

Reid suffered years of ridicule. Picture / Amos Chapple

Society had destroyed Shane Reid so he destroyed it back.

The world which had ridiculed the Hamilton dwarf was made to pay last year when he lit fires at Cambridge High School and Forest Lake Primary School in Hamilton.

Reid, 27, was found guilty of lighting the fires, which caused $415,000 worth of damage, following a trial in the Hamilton District Court in March.

He will escape spending time in prison, however, with sentencing Judge Denise Clark yesterday ordering Reid's 2 1/2 year prison sentence be served in a secure facility under Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act.

Reid, who set fire to a classroom at Cambridge High on March 16 last year and a fire at Forest Lake Primary on March 20 last year, sat quietly through yesterday's sentencing in the Hamilton District Court, only asking at the end "so where am I going?"

Crown Prosecutor Deborah Davis said the fires were premeditated, with Reid asking caregivers what accelerants were best for lighting fires and making a false 111 fire call the day before the Cambridge High fire.

She said sentencing needed to take into account his diminished intellectual capacity and understanding.

Judge Clark said it was clear Reid had significant difficulties to deal with in his life.

As a child he moved around, living in Taumarunui, the Far North, Taranaki and Hamilton.

By the time his learning difficulties and obvious physical disability (hypochondroplasia, a form of short-limb dwarfism) was diagnosed it was too late for doctors to do anything.

As a teenager he took to living at night among the lights and sirens of emergency services to escape the teasing and stares.

When not chasing fire engines or watching police he spent his time talking to service station attendants to get any social contact.

He told the writers of his sentencing reports he lit the fires because "society had destroyed me so I destroyed it back".

He said he got butterflies and an adrenalin rush when he lit the fires, which were started with newspapers.

"You commented when you destroyed a building all the nasty things people did to you got burnt," Judge Clark said.

Reid's lawyer Tom Sutcliff said while any sentence needed to deter and denounce Reid's actions he needed proper treatment much more than he needed to be punished.

He said Reid was hyper-vigilant, paranoid and shrunk from physical contact because of years of ridicule.

Report writers said Reid expressed no remorse for his actions and he had only a superficial understanding of what he had done. They said he showed contempt for others.

The attacks came out of the frustration of not being able to live a normal life, Mr Sutcliff said.