Pair gassed through peephole
A Taranaki woman plans to reunite with her husband – the man who tried to gas her and their boarder through a peephole.
‘‘I am not afraid of him and I never have been,’’ Elizabeth Faigan, 45, said of Peter Faigan in a statement read at his sentencing in the High Court at New Plymouth yesterday.
‘‘I think there is a good chance that Peter and I will get back together.’’
The court heard she has spent months thinking over the June 6 incident, when Peter fed a hose into the bedroom in Bell Block, near New Plymouth, where she and Keith Chisnall were sleeping.
Attached to the hose was a 9kg LPG bottle which Peter, 59, turned on before walking away, leaving its contents to spill into the tiny downstairs room of the Corbett Rd building, fronted by Checkers Fast Food.
Several hours later, Elizabeth woke to the stench of LPG and to a hissing sound. She alerted Chisnall and the pair escaped.
Peter, who lived in the building’s upstairs flat, was seen watching on from his window as emergency services arrived.
He admitted two charges of attempted poisoning, for which Justice Peter Churchman sentenced him to 11 months’ home detention at yesterday’s hearing.
Prior to the gassing, Elizabeth said never in their 11-year marriage had Peter tried to harm her.
At the time, his mental health was rapidly deteriorating and he was suffering physical, psychological and cognitive issues following two strokes.
‘‘Peter became jealous of Keith. When he was around, he wanted Keith gone,’’ Elizabeth said.
In 2018, Peter employed Chisnall to help clean up the property to get it ready to sell, and in return Chisnall was provided accommodation in the lower level.
But the situation became acrimonious and Peter asked Chisnall to leave.
Chisnall refused and tensions grew, often resulting in police being called to the address.
In September, Chisnall was sentenced to 12 months’ supervision for a vicious assault on Peter.
Chisnall has previously told about a two-year agreement he had with Peter to lease the room in return for his labour.
He said Peter had promised him a hot rod car upon completion of the contract and Chisnall was determined to see it through.
In early 2019, Peter and Elizabeth
‘‘Peter became jealous of Keith. When he was around, he wanted Keith gone.’’ Elizabeth Faigan
separated and she moved downstairs and into the same bedroom as Chisnall.
‘‘That then became problematic for Mr Faigan, who developed an increasing sense of desperation and distress about his inability to have Mr Chisnall leave,’’ defence lawyer Susan Hughes QC said.
Peter had tried all legal routes to get Chisnall out, including an eviction order and a trespass notice.
But with the matter before the Tenancy Tribunal, he found it could be months before it reached a resolution, Hughes said.
Peter’s intentions weren’t to harm anyone but rather were a desperate attempt to make Chisnall leave, she submitted.
‘‘He hoped that if Mr Chisnall left that his relationship with his wife might be restored.
‘‘These were unique circumstances where a vulnerable man was driven to the end of his tether,’’ Hughes submitted.
Chisnall has emphatically denied he and Elizabeth had an intimate relationship and maintains he was helping her as she had no other place to live.
The attempted poisoning has caused Chisnall post-traumatic stress and he often feels physically sick when he churns over the event, he said in a statement read to the court.
‘‘It worries me with the ease that you walked away after turning on the LPG bottle,’’ he said of Peter’s actions.
‘‘I believe you tried to kill me, your wife, your dog and your bird...
‘‘I don’t want anything to do with you. I wish I never met you.’’
After considering the submissions, Justice Churchman adopted a start point of four years’ jail and then applied a number of discounts, including for Peter’s poor health, previous good character and for the ‘‘baiting and provocation’’ by Chisnall.
Following the adjustments, he reached an end point of 22 months which was then converted to home detention.
An order was made for the destruction of the gas bottle and the hose.