Jail for Nelson fires
Benjamin Durrant has been sent to prison for lighting roadside fires during the Nelson wildfires in 2019. By Samantha Gee.
A Nelson man who lit two roadside fires during the Nelson wildfires has been sent to prison for three years and four months. Benjamin Philip Durrant, 35, and Abigail Jessica Page, 25, were jointly charged with arson and attempted arson during the Nelson wildfires in 2019.
They were sentenced in the Nelson High Court yesterday. Durrant was sentenced to prison, while Page was discharged without conviction.
Justice David Goddard suppressed the reasons for discharging Page, but said the consequences of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the gravity of her offending.
The pair were found guilty on both charges after a two-week jury trial in March at the Wellington High Court.
Justice Goddard said the fires, which the jury had been satisfied were lit by Durrant, were ‘‘very serious’’ and had significant consequences for people and property. In early 2019, the region was in drought and fire risk was high. A massive fire was accidently started in Pigeon Valley on February 5 by a spark from farming equipment. It burned for weeks and was not brought under control until March.
When two fires showed up on roadsides – first on the Moutere Highway and then on Pigeon Valley Rd – their cause was a major concern.
The first fire on February 27 lit on the Moutere Highway saw 97 houses evacuated and damage to 10.63 hectares of commercial pine forest and farmland. One property was significantly damaged and the landowners were at risk of losing their home.
A victim impact statement from the couple described the ‘‘significant emotional impact and stress’’ the fire caused them. Justice Goddard said the fear and anxiety caused by the fires was an aggravating feature of the offending.
The fire also damaged forest owned by Tasman Pine Forests. The losses to landowners were estimated to be between $11,000 and $32,000.
The second fire, on March 6, was quickly extinguished by forestry workers before it reached the road and Durrant and Page were arrested after their car was stopped in a dry riverbed in Dovedale.
A victim impact statement from principal rural fire officer Ian Reade estimated the costs incurred by Fire and Emergency NZ were $212,000, with the Moutere Highway fire accounting for the majority as helicopters, heavy earth-moving machinery, fire trucks and water tankers were used to extinguish it.
Justice Goddard said the Pigeon Valley fire caused around $20 million in damage and cost a further $30m to extinguish and responding to forest fires placed firefighters at heightened risk.
Durrant denied he had responsibility for the fires and the judge said he had not expressed any remorse, except for a belated offer at sentencing to pay $2000 in reparation, which was awarded to the landowners who suffered the largest loss.
A pre-sentence report said Durrant had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder and had a record of head injuries.
A psychologist report said Durrant had ‘‘longstanding problems with self-regulation, social awareness and judgment and interpersonal relationships’’.
Durrant had a ‘‘lengthly’’ criminal record, mostly involving dishonesty charges and one previous conviction for arson in 2004 when he lit a punctured butane canister. It exploded and set fire to a hedge.
Both reports said Durrant was at high risk of general reoffending but it was not possible to estimate the risk of future fire-setting behaviour.
Justice Goddard said Durrant’s ADHD, problems with impulse control and difficulties with selfregulation reduced his culpability.
‘‘You are less able than most to make good decisions that take into account the impact on others of your conduct, to forsee those consequences and factor them into your choices.
‘‘However, these same factors underscore the risk you pose to the community.’’
The Crown said Durrant was upset after losing his forestry job after he had been charged with theft of firewood and trespassed from forestry areas. It said that was his motive for setting the fires.
Durrant admitted at trial he was in the car and the area but said he had not lit the fires.
His defence was that there was a lack of any direct evidence and the jury could not rule out an accident hadn’t started them.
However, Page said he lit them and she was powerless to stop him. She said he was unpredictable and she was just doing what he said.
The Crown said the fires could have caused widespread damage to forests and danger to life was likely.
‘‘You are less able than most to make good decisions that take into account the impact on others of your conduct . . . however these same factors underscore the risk you pose to the community.’’ Justice David Goddard