Woman held for death-house arson

The Otangarei house where Mairina Dunn was beaten to death. Picture / Northern Advocate

Whangarei police have arrested a 33-year-old and charged her with setting fire to the house in which a local teenager was beaten to death last month.

Police and the Fire Service said the early morning fire yesterday in the unoccupied house was suspicious.

Mairina Dunn, 17, was found in the rented Holmes Avenue, Otangarei, house on August 27 after being subjected to what police said had been an extreme level of violence for up to an hour and a half.

Ms Dunn had shared the house with two other women and Black Power gang member Nathan Fenton, 31, who was the target of a police manhunt in the southern Bay of Islands area early this month after disappearing following Ms Dunn's death.

Fenton was on the run for 10 days before being caught and charged with Ms Dunn's murder.

Soon after 5.30am yesterday firefighters were called to the vacant weatherboard house where the couple had lived briefly.

Fire Service fire safety officer Craig Bain said the blaze had started from "multiple points" around the house.

A lightweight accelerant appeared to have been used, with the house being damaged in areas that it had been applied. Mr Bain said the house was being renovated for reletting by its owner. The blaze was discovered by a group of men on their way to work around 5.30am.

Whangarei CIB detective Andrew Clubley said police had arrested a woman who was to appear in the Whangarei District Court this morning charged with arson.

He said the woman lived in Otangarei but was "not an immediate relative" of Ms Dunn and inquiries were continuing with other people being talked to.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE