Teen jailed for beating elderly man

A West Coast teenager who brutally beat up an elderly man and then set fire to his home to cover up his tracks was yesterday jailed for eight years.

Bobby Christopher Barnett-Waldron, 18, pleaded guilty in the High Court in Greymouth to causing grievous bodily harm to Peter Lawrence, aged 74, and a separate count of arson.

Barnett-Waldron inflicted a brutal beating on the elderly man then rolled up paper and placed it on a red hot element on the stove. He also stuffed paper in the oven then fled, leaving Mr Lawrence unconscious on the floor of his home in Dobson, 10km east of Greymouth.

A neighbour Kim Rees, who heard a smoke alarm going off, found Mr Lawrence in a pool of blood and summoned assistance from people who helped drag him from then house and put out the fire.

Barnett-Waldron's lawyer Rupert Glover, said his client, realising the enormity of what he had done, had started the fire, not to destroy evidence but knowing the smoke alarm would go off and Mr Lawrence would get help.

"I'm afraid I am doubtful of that interpretation and believe he intended to cover his actions by setting fire to the room," Justice Graham Panckhurst replied.

In an open letter to the Dobson community Barnett-Waldron said:"I apologise for what must have been a horrific scene. My memory of it will never fade."

He accepted he would never be welcome at Dobson again.

"An apology will never be enough but I deeply regret my actions on that night."

Karen Wallace, who described Mr Lawrence as a surrogate father figure, said she found it "incomprehensible" that Barnett-Waldron left him unconscious on the floor and set fire to his house.

"No penalty is enough. You get to remain a fully functional person. No punishment will give Peter back his life."

Justice Panckhurst said the case was "catastrophic".

"Mr Lawrence lived in his own home, managed his own affairs, grew and gifted vegetables to his neighbours. Now he's in a dementia unit requiring full time care."

A long sentence was warranted because it was premeditated extreme violence.

- NZPA