Ex-partners accuse each other of Levin arson

A woman who says her ex tried to burn down her house has been accused of setting the fire to frame him.

Darryl John Greer is on trial in the Palmerston North District Court, accused of the arson of Cindy Pender’s Levin home in November.

He also faced a charge of breaching a protection order from October and November last year, but pleaded guilty after the jury was selected yesterday.

Crown prosecutor Guy Carter said the protection order breach involved Greer contacting Pender with hundreds of text messages and phone calls.

‘‘This trial is about a man who refuses to move on and leave his ex-wife alone.’’

Pender and Greer separated in 2006 after 25 years of marriage, with Pender finding a new partner.

She also obtained a protection order against Greer, which he breached before last year’s events.

They are still legally married, but had discussed finalising their divorce in the weeks before the alleged arson.

Pender was having coffee in her home at 5am on November 9 before hearing a wooshing sound and looking outside to see fire around the house, then hearing Greer’s voice, Carter said.

A key piece of evidence was a pair of Crocs shoes found on Pender’s property.

One of the shoes had a missing strap and someone – the Crown says Greer – was filmed wearing the pair when getting petrol before the fire, Carter said.

Pender, the first witness in the trial, said she and her partner were especially security conscious before the fire, always locking the only gate on to the property.

The messages she received from Greer before the fire were increasingly strange, ranging from asking for help to making allegations of child sex abuse, she said.

She was amazed at the fire, because she had no idea how it would have started.

She did not see Greer, but recognised his voice saying something like ‘‘got you’’ or ‘‘you have got it’’ after she noticed the blaze.

She was deaf in one ear, but positive she heard Greer.

The flames only caused minor damage to the house.

Defence lawyer Simon Hewson asked Pender if she lit the fire.

It had been done with petrol on concrete, so to only cause minimal damage, and a petrol can was found near the laundry door.

She also answered police questions in a way that indicated she knew how the fire started despite allegedly not seeing anything, and she never called the fire service, Hewson said.

She also knew from previous protection order breaches Greer would go to jail if he was connected to an arson, he said.

Pender said she hated dealing with fuel and did not light the fire, and had no idea why Greer would have done it.

‘‘David used to be a really good man.

‘‘I really like to think he could get help and move on with his life.’’

The trial, before Judge Lance Rowe and a jury of 12, is expected to take three days.