PARTYGOER’S FIRE TRIAL
Huon Valley man denies causing blaze at gathering to allegedly explode
A HUON Valley man is on trial after he poured fuel on to a fire during a Christmas party for school teachers, allegedly causing an explosion that set a woman alight.
Kai Kimmo Juvakka, 41, has pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm in the incident at a party at Kettering.
A Supreme Court jury on Tuesday heard Mr Juvakka obtained a can of accelerant then, without warning and while people were milling around a firepit, “poured the fuel on to the fire”.
The victim caught on fire and suffered burns.
A HUON Valley man is on trial after he poured fuel into a firepit at a Christmas party for school teachers, allegedly causing an explosion that set a Woodbridge teacher alight.
Kai Kimmo Juvakka, who has pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, admits he poured fuel on the fire but did not do so negligently.
Crown prosecutor Jack Shapiro told a Supreme Court of Tasmania jury on Tuesday that the “terrible accident” unfolded on December 20, 2018, at another teacher’s Kettering home.
During the party, the revellers stood around a small fire — “not a big raging bonfire” — but a pit of about 1m x 1m.
The victim, a teacher at Woodbridge School, was attending the party with her partner.
Mr Juvakka, a 41-year-old Gardners Bay resident, was also in attendance because his partner was a teacher.
Mr Shapiro said Mr Juvakka sent a text to another person, asking: “Do you have any diesel? These people don’t know how to light a fire.”
He said Mr Juvakka obtained a can of accelerant from a neighbour, then without warning and while people were milling around the firepit “poured the fuel on to the fire”, which exploded.
The victim, standing with her back to the blaze, caught on fire and suffered burns.
Mr Shapiro said a scientist later tested what was inside the can and discovered it did not contain just diesel but a blend of 80 per cent diesel and 20 per cent petrol.
He alleged Mr Juvakka committed an act of gross criminal negligence by pouring the contents of the can on to the blaze without knowing what was in it and by not giving any warning to the people standing nearby. Mr Juvakka says the neighbour told him the can contained only diesel and he was “very surprised with what happened”.
“We are not asserting that the accused meant to cause anybody any harm. It’s our case that this was a terrible accident, but one that was criminally negligent,” Mr Shapiro said. “He has failed in his duty to be reasonably careful and cautious while doing a dangerous thing.”
On Tuesday, the neighbour who gave Mr Juvakka the can told the court that while he told him it contained diesel, he also said “it might have other accelerants in it”.
He said he poured some of the substance and lit it as a test to check its flammability.
The trial before Acting Judge David Porter, which will hear evidence from others at the party including the woman who was burned, is expected to finish by Friday.