An intellectually disabled woman who settles her grudges by lighting fires has been given a prison term and the treatment she needs.
Vida Marie Matairangi was jailed for two years today by Christchurch District Court Judge Gary MacAskill who said that when she was released she would become
eligible for a compulsory care order that would apply for a further six months.
During that time she would be assessed for whether she can be released to live on her own or would need on-going care.
Judge MacAskill took into account her early guilty pleas on six arson charges, unlawfully taking a car, careless driving for crashing into a taxi when she went through a stop sign, driving while prohibited, and the theft of two samurai swords.
Matairangi cried and sniffled during the sad sentencing session, and called out from the dock that she was sorry, and had not meant to commit the arsons.
When she had grudges with people she reached through open windows and set fire to curtains, or lit a chair and doormat piled against a front door, or set fire to newspapers on a car bonnet.
She did a lot of damage. One set of flats was hit four times in a night.
Defence counsel Serina Bailey said Matairangi had no money to make any payment for the losses.
Matairangi told police she did one of the attacks because the person she had stayed with had spat in her food and was a demon and an ex-murderer.
Psychiatric and psychological reports indicated that the 31-year-old had low intellectual functioning and a limited ability to reason through the consequences of her actions.
When she was released into the community she lived a transient and chaotic lifestyle.
Twice when mental health services had seen her they said her behaviour was "consistent with malingering".
She would require significant supervision and support.
Judge MacAskill said people had been inside the houses where she had lit her fires and they would have been in danger if the fires had spread.
He jailed her for two years and ordered that she be detained as a special care patient.
He also disqualified her from driving for three years, telling her she should not drive a vehicle "for some considerable time".
- NZPA
