Tough great-gran not losing sleep after arson attack

A great-grandmother who fled clutching her oxygen supply as her Tawa apartment burst into flames isn't losing sleep over her near-death ordeal - but her family are.

"We don't think it's sunk in, the enormity of it, how she was almost killed," said her daughter Janine George. "I can say she is doing well."

The 79-year-old widow was in bed listening to the radio when a missile was hurled through a window shortly before midnight on September 24, setting the place ablaze.

Dragging her oxygen unit, she escaped the flames, suffering just smoke inhalation.

Mrs George said that despite the ordeal, her mother was sleeping fine and planned to return to her Redwood Village unit when it was repaired - with bulletproof glass. Meanwhile, she was staying with her daughters.

"She's tough ... I would be a screaming lunatic!"

Yesterday, Tristran Sullivan, 22, unemployed of Porirua, faced a charge of arson in the Porirua District Court, , where he gave gang hand signals to companions in the public gallery.

He was remanded in custody until October 31.

The arrest - which followed a three-week criminal profiling investigation - brought relief to the family, Mrs George said. The family did not know the accused and believed the attack was a case of mistaken identity.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Oxnam of Porirua CIB confirmed that. "This attack was not aimed at any person in that complex".

He would not comment further for fear of jeopardising the case, but said it was a "forensically interesting" case.

- NZPA