Guilty plea to petrol dousing

A FORMER ice addict who poured petrol over a neighbour and threatened to set her on fire because he believed she had fleeced him of two lowvalue items will be sentenced in November.

Jamie Lee Stein changed his plea to a charge of criminal code assault to guilty on Wednesday – just hours before a jury trial was due to begin in the Supreme Court in Burnie.

The court was told Stein was in the grips of an ice addiction when he went to his neighbour’s house in Stubbs Court, Penguin, in April 2019 and poured petrol over her as she lay on her couch.

Stein accused her of stealing his lighter and a toilet spray from his property when she had visited the night before.

He then flicked a lighter near her and threatened to set her on fire. The victim yelled through an open window to a neighbour before Stein left the property.

By coincidence, Housing Tasmania arrived to conduct a routine inspection of the property that same day and insisted the tenant tell police of the threatening incident.

Justice Pearce adjourned sentencing till November 3.