Hamish Ray burned down ex-partner’s Tākaka rental, destroying long-standing family home

A man who burned down his ex-partner’s rental home was motivated by revenge to “teach her a lesson” because he thought she was having an affair.

But Hamish Andrew Kerry Ray sobbed into his hands as the consequences of his actions sunk in as he was sentenced to almost four years in prison today.

He cried not only for the harm he’d caused his ex-partner but for the loss at his hand of the long-standing Tākaka home and the memories of four generations of the Harwood family who owned it and had lived in it.

“Unsurprisingly, that home holds special memories for them, as a place in the family’s heart,” Judge Garry Barkle said.

Two family members who belonged to the volunteer fire brigade were called to the blaze in the early hours of March 9 this year and watched in horror as their 1932 bungalow burned to the ground, before their eyes.

Ray, 38, was convinced his former partner was having an affair, so on March 8 this year he drove from Blenheim where he had been working, and stayed with a friend in Nelson who tried to persuade him not to leave.

But in the end, Ray headed to Golden Bay, gained entry to the home through a rear door he said was unlocked and burned down the house after dragging a mattress outside and setting it alight.

He then started another fire inside the house that had belonged to his former employer, who later said they were devastated by the loss and the actions of Ray, to whom they had shown nothing but support by giving him work and a place for him and his then partner to live with their two young children.

Ray, who appeared in the Nelson District Court via video link from prison where he has been in custody since he admitted the arson charge in April, held his head in his hands and could be seen crying.

He and the woman had been in an on-and-off relationship for nine years and had a young child together, while she also had a child of her own.

Judge Barkle said the couple were living apart at the time and the status of their relationship was “strained”.

Crown prosecutor Sophie O’Donoghue said there were elements of pre-meditation in what Ray did and that he had “acted with clear purpose”, beginning with sending the victim derogatory and abusive text messages.

He told police then that he acted in a rage at the idea his (former) partner was having an affair. He recalled dragging the mattress out from the house in Tākaka and setting it alight, but not starting another fire inside the home.

Fire investigators at the scene later noted steel remnants of a mattress in the property’s garden area. The scene also suggested a second seat of fire found within the lounge area.

Other personal items that belonged to his former partner were found strewn around the grounds.

Barrage of abuse

The messages Ray sent on the afternoon of March 8 were alarming enough for the woman to leave and stay at a friend’s place.

Then in the early hours of the next morning, he sent her a “barrage” of abusive, accusatory messages that included an image of the house.

By 3.26am, the homestead was fully ablaze and was ultimately destroyed, along with all the contents.

O’Donaghue said the Harwood family were the real victims in this case but had been lost in the process.

The Crown submitted a starting point of six years in prison with a six-month uplift for Ray’s previous offending, including that he had spent time in prison for violence involving sexual offending.

The Tākaka home fully ablaze, after Hamish Ray set it alight in a rage over his ex-partner. Photo / Supplied

Defence lawyer John Sandston said he had little quarrel with the Crown’s position, including that it was “very serious offending”, but Ray had admitted his actions “a lot faster” than other defendants might have.

“When I first met him he ‘fessed up straight away, and had his head down to me and at the owners (of the home).”

Ray had been willing to attend Restorative Justice with his former partner and with the Harwoods, for what he accepted was “selfish offending”.

Sandston said he knew it had all been said before but Ray was the product of an appalling background, including a mother who was a “non-parent” and a stepfather who Sandston described as a “horrible, horrible piece of work”. His father was never on the scene.

Sandston said Ray’s behaviour was learned and that while he was intelligent and hard-working he had not had the role models he needed to help turn things around.

Judge Barkle acknowledged that Ray had expressed sorrow and a wish to make things right for his former partner through a $10,000 payment to help her get back on her feet.

He also said it was fair to say that Ray was the product of an “appalling” upbringing and that he had resorted to violence, and was unable to maintain relationships because of it.

From a starting point of six years in prison, Ray was given a total 40% overall reduction on sentencing for his early guilty pleas and factors in his background that were established causes of his offending, to arrive at an end sentence of three years and 11 months in prison.

Ray was also ordered to pay a $10,000 emotional harm payment to the Harwood family.

The sentence included a two-month prison term for a drink drive charge in December last year, which was to be served at the same time.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.