KEY POINTS:
A teenaged firebug tried repeatedly to raze a school and torched numerous cars in the dead of night because he was angry with life, Wellington District Court was told today.
Cameron Gallagher, 18, admitted nine charges of arson today. Police withdrew three further charges of arson laid against him.
The unemployed Gallagher stalked the area around his Miramar, Wellington, house from January 5 to May 4 this year, setting fire to parked cars, Miramar South School and an elderly neighbour's house.
Crown prosecutor Sergeant Barney Sautar said Gallagher's favoured method involved putting accelerant-soaked rags in contact with what he wanted to burn.
In his February 20 arson, he prised off a plank of wood off one of the school's buildings and stuffed a rag into the hole. A water pipe burst and extinguished the fire, saving the structure, Mr Sautar said.
In another of his attempts to burn down the school, on January 5, Gallagher stole two tins of enamel-based paint, poured them out and lit the flammable liquid. Firefighters came and put out the blaze.
He set fire to an elderly neighbour's house, using his flaming rag technique. The fire which quickly spread into the wallspace of the building and extensively damaged the house's exterior.
Gallagher also set fire to a number of cars across the road from his house. One of the fires was started by spraying accelerant onto the tyre of a van and setting it on fire.
Another, which spread to the three cars parked behind it, as well as nearby trees, Gallagher started by lighting a cloth bag full of accellerant-soaked clothes. Police found a partially burned St Patrick's High School shirt from the bag, later finding a similar shirt in the firebug's closet.
Police tracked him down using hidden CCTV cameras set up at the school. They filmed a barefoot, slightly built man with a bowl-type haircut lurking around the grounds late at night.
From this, police deduced the firebug might live nearby and conducted door-to-door inquiries in the neighbourhood.
During a visit to one house, police noticed a thin young man watching them through the window as he talked to his parents.
They asked to speak to him.
"He was extraordinarily nervous, even though police asked no confrontational questions," Mr Sautar said.
Later, police showed the film of the lurking barefoot man taken at the school to Gallagher's mother, who, "without prompting, said it looked like her son", the prosecutor said.
On May 9, police visited and searched Gallagher's home.
They then took him to the police station, where he was interviewed, admitted lighting the fires and arrested.
"He was unable to explain why he had started the fires, and said he was angry with life," Mr Sautar said.
Gallagher remanded on bail, facing sentencing on December 14.
His attacks caused damage worth thousands, or perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dollars, Mr Sautar said.
- NZPA
