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It's not quite a case of forgive and forget. But the family of an Auckland teenager left severely scarred after a pyrotechnic cocktail trick went horribly wrong have praised the culprit for taking responsibility for "the stupid prank".
Jed William Curtis, 21, pleaded guilty on Friday to injuring Miro Szabados with reckless disregard when he took a bottle of meths and poured it on to a line of Chartreuse liqueur that had been set alight in central Wellington's Maya bar on May 13.
The exploding fireball hit Szabados, who suffered serious burns to her face, hands, chest and neck.
"It was incredibly stupid, a stupid prank by someone whose brain wasn't engaged. But he took responsibility for it and that's saved her from being subjected to a trial. He does deserve some credit for that," Szabados' grandmother Jacky Renouf told the Herald on Sunday.
Ten months ago Szabados was like dozens of other 18-year-olds, looking forward to leaving home and going flatting.
The Auckland teenager had been accepted into the prestigious fashion and design course at Massey University in Wellington. She was excited about moving to the capital. She was, according to Renouf, a confident young woman high on life.
"I remember taking her out to do some grocery shopping for the flat. She was really excited about that, it was the first time she had gone out and done that for herself. It was a real beginning for her."
But the happiness didn't last.
Three months after that supermarket trip, tragedy struck. Waiting for a drink at Maya, an inner-city bar in Wellington's party strip, Szabados was hit by what police described as a "fireball" after Curtis threw methylated spirits over a flaming cocktail display being performed by the barman.
She remembers seeing Curtis throw the meths, her grandmother says. And she remembers the flames rushing towards her.
"We got called in to the hospital. They just said there had been a burn. We thought perhaps she had stood in front of a heater or she had been spattered with some fat, or something like that. But when we got there it was just devastating. It was a really frightening sight, and terrifying for her. Pieces of her skin were falling off, she could smell her burned hair..."
Taken to Wellington Hospital and then to the burns unit at Hutt Hospital, Szabados covered up all the mirrors so she wouldn't have to look at herself. She has been told she can't go into the sun for two years. Her hand still has to be bandaged. She is still having treatment for severe scarring on her chest and neck.
Renouf says that despite her granddaughter being strong - "after the first day she said she just had to get on with it and get better" - she has needed some counselling.
"This thing came out of left field, she had no guilt in it, she was an innocent bystander. It cut her down. The consequences, both physically and emotionally are long-term."
Szabados' study suffered, too. She was in hospital for 10 days.
Three weeks' recuperation at Renouf's home in Raumati followed, and ongoing medical treatment and counselling.
Exhausted, she was only able to study part-time for the rest of the year and will have to repeat some assignments next year.
Meanwhile, Curtis has been remanded on bail until December 14, when it is expected that he will be handed a community-based sentence, possibly a three-night curfew.
In an ironic twist, Curtis has asked the judge in the case how such a sentence might affect his possible new job - as a cocktail barman.
Miro, who did not want any new photographs taken of her, said: "All I want to say is that this still affects me in many ways.
"I would like to meet him at some stage but when I was meant to meet him through restorative justice I couldn't go through with it because at that time it was too stressful for me."
However she did supply the Herald on Sunday with a photograph taken the night of the incident.
Curtis would not comment on his new job, saying reports about it had created considerable misunderstanding. He said he wanted to meet Miro personally to apologise.
"I just want to explain that it was an accident, that I am not a malicious or nasty person and that I am terribly, terribly sorry," said yesterday.
