Woman found guilty of assault with weapon during arson attack on Taranaki home

It’s bye-bye Boris Johnson, investigations underway after a dramatic afternoon on the North Shore and a busy couple of weeks in store of Auckland Airport in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald

After accusing her partner of cheating on her, Tania Cresswell bludgeoned the man with a piece of rimu timber and burned down his house.

A chaotic call to emergency services captured the moment the South Taranaki woman set fire to the home of Tony Oxenham, her on and off partner of eight years, beginning with his lounge and then moving on to his bedroom.

"She's going to burn my f****** house down," he said in the 111 call, played to New Plymouth District Court.

As Oxenham frantically tried to put out the fires, while still on the phone to emergency services, he was heard screaming as he suffered a burn to his right arm in the process.

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As the mayhem unfolded, Cresswell, 57, called Oxenham a "piece of lying s***" and told him to "burn".

The January 15, 2021, fire took hold of Oxenham's newly renovated Waitara, north Taranaki, home and it was destroyed. What remained was bulldozed the following week.

While Cresswell earlier pleaded guilty to arson, she unsuccessfully defended a charge of assault with a weapon in a judge-alone-trial on Thursday.

Tania Cresswell burned down her former partner's Taranaki home. Photo / NZME

Oxenham told the court that only moments before Cresswell lit the fires, she attacked him around the head a number of times with a piece of wood, which led to his call to 111.

"Tarns came in with a bit of timber and started whacking me around the head," he said in evidence.

The violence followed Cresswell accusing Oxenham of having an affair, which he vehemently denied.

But Cresswell said no such attack occurred and rather the pair were verbally and physically fighting and she had hit him with a broom handle in self-defence.

What remained of Tony Oxenham's newly renovated home was bulldozed following the fire. Photo / NZME

The court heard Cresswell had drunk a dozen Jack Daniels premixes at her friend's house earlier in the day and Oxenham later picked her up and took her to his house.

She was staying with him for the week, and when the pair arrived at his address she became upset by a text Oxenham received from another woman.

"It tipped me off my edge," she told the court, before admitting she can easily become jealous and aggressive.

Cresswell claimed Oxenham had strangled her and thrown a piece of timber through her car windscreen.

While Oxenham, who had also been drinking alcohol that evening, admitted they had been arguing and that he had punched Cresswell in an attempt to stop her from hitting him with the wood, he denied smashing her window or trying to strangle her.

Police recorded they were both slurring their speech and smelled of alcohol when officers arrived.

But while Oxenham was calm and compliant, Cresswell refused to leave the burning house and she was arrested for obstruction after a brief struggle with officers.

Tania Cresswell appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Thursday. Photo / NZME

Oxenham was later flown to Waikato Hospital where he stayed for a week to undergo skin graft surgery.

Hearing the case, Judge Gregory Hikaka said the 111 call made by Oxenham was "very telling".

He said it was clear Cresswell was the more provocative and aggressive of the two.

Oxenham's evidence was more cogent and reliable than that of Cresswell's, Judge Hikaka said.

He was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty of assaulting Oxenham with the wooden weapon.

Cresswell will be sentenced on both charges on August 19. The case was referred to restorative justice.