West Coast man cleared of fatal arson

After deliberating for just over 10 hours, a High Court jury in Greymouth last night found a West Coast man not guilty of murdering teenager Karl Daniel Watson who died in a house fire in Greymouth.

Craig Brad Wilson, 22, of Dunollie, near Greymouth, denied murdering Mr Watson, 18, at Greymouth on October 2, 2004. The jury also found Wilson not guilty of manslaughter and arson.

Mr Watson was asleep in a bedroom of the house when the fire started around 3.15am.

Highly intoxicated he had been put to bed by friends about midnight.

His body was recovered in a corner of the room after the blaze was finally brought under control.

Crown prosecutor Craig Ruane had told the jurors a simple process of elimination would reveal Wilson was the arsonist.

He said there were seven people in the house immediately before the fire and the actions of each could be accounted for except Wilson who was also conspicuous by his absence after the blaze took hold.

Defence counsel Doug Taffs said detectives had identified Wilson as the main suspect early on and built a case around that suspicion ignoring the possibility that anyone could have walked in the open back door and set the fires in the laundry and junk room without being seen.

Mr Taffs said someone could have set fire to the lounge curtains from outside the house by simply pushing aside some plywood covering a broken window pane, reaching in and touching a flame to the material.

- nzpa