Developer burned in backyard mishap

Phil Martin arrives at Middlemore Hospital after burning himself in Pakiri. Photo / Jason Dorday

Property developer Phil Martin was left with serious burns to his face and body yesterday after flames engulfed him as he poured petrol on to a backyard gorse fire.

Martin, one of the Auckland businessmen behind Pakiri's multimillion-dollar Manunui Coastal Estate, was rushed to Middlemore Hospital by helicopter with third-degree burns to his hands and face.

Pakiri local Hone Harris and his children watched as paramedics wheeled Martin into the helicopter at the local primary school.

"His whole face was red; he was like a crayfish. He looked sore," Montoya Harris, 11, said.

Martin, who used to practise as a dentist, was alone at the time of the accident.

Relatives told the Herald on Sunday he had been clearing scrub at the estate.

"Phil was lighting the fire and when he poured the petrol on it the fire came down on him; it actually burned the hair off his head," a family member said.

It was a second blow to the family, who last year endured the loss of 20-year-old Samantha Henderson, killed when a gun exploded in her face.

Henderson, Martin's niece, had been photographing her boyfriend as he posed with a double-barrelled gun pointed at the camera.

In court Justin Paul Goldstone argued he had not realised the gun was loaded.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for manslaughter.

Henderson's daughter, now three, lives with relatives.