Grocery toilet roll arsonists sentenced

A couple who set fire to a toilet roll aisle as a distraction in a shopping mall supermarket have been sentenced in the Hamilton District Court.

Angelique Toia and Robert Pickering caused nearly $19,000 worth of damage to Hamilton’s Chartwell Countdown supermarket for $300 worth of groceries.

Judge Kim Saunders sentenced Toia to 10 months’ home detention and Pickering to one year and eight months in prison with the option to apply for home detention.

The pair were captured on CCTV footage inside the Chartwell Countdown when they lit the fire about 6pm on January 16 this year.

Police said the fire was a diversion to steal shopping baskets loaded with meat packs. The shopping mall was evacuated and the fire was put out.

Firefighters were called in to extinguish the flames before removing five trolley loads of burnt toilet paper.

Crown prosecutor Martin Dillon wanted a starting point sentence of two years and nine months.

But Judge Saunders said that there was some premeditation to the offending, but not to a great extent.

‘‘The offending was serious. It could have had more tragic consequences. There is always a risk, it doesn’t really matter what part of the building was targeted, there remains with it a risk of danger to innocent people in the area,’’ Saunders said.

Toia, who was 20 at the time of the offending, now has a young son to Pickering, who is a year older. Her lawyer Sacha Nepe said that at the time of Toia’s offending, she was homeless.

‘‘She panicked. She was hungry and wondering how they were going to pay for the items,’’ Nepe said.

Saunders sentenced Toia to a South Auckland address.

‘‘I accept that at the time of the offending, you were unable to cope for a variety of reasons. I hope you’ve turned a corner, as you have a young son,’’ Judge Saunders said.

The judge reiterated to Pickering that the offending was serious.

‘‘There were members of the public present when the arson was committed and there were staff members, so there was potential for real harm. But it’s accepted that the fire didn’t grow to any large extent and it was extinguished reasonably quickly.’’

The damage to the supermarket was quite substantial, but the judge said that there was nothing to be gained by imposing reparation.

‘‘You are certainly in no position to make repayments now,’’ she said to both defendants. ‘‘The reason I am sentencing you both is to hold you both accountable and to deter and denounce your conduct.’’