An elderly fire victim whose home was torched after giving a group of teenagers water says she's praying they get the help they so desperately need.
The 88-year-old Ranui woman woke to find a couch on her front porch ablaze after she was targeted by three girls and boy who had knocked on her door late at night Sunday wanting water.
Out of kindness, she gave the teens a drink, but the group returned. When she turned them away two girls smashed a front window.
A couch was moved onto her front porch to cover the broken pane but things took a sinister turn a short time later when the pensioner woke to the blare of a smoke alarm and flames from the couch licking her house.
Police say the fire was deliberately lit.