Arson trial ends with guilty plea

A man who claimed his ex tried to burn down her own house has done a 180, now admitting he set the blaze.

Darryl John Greer pleaded not guilty at the start of his jury trial in the Palmerston North District Court on Monday to the arson of Cindy Pender’s Levin home in November.

He did, however, admit breaching a protection order by bombarding her with phone calls and text messages.

The trial ended yesterday afternoon though, after he pleaded guilty to a less serious version of arson.

His defence amounted to pointing the finger at Pender, accusing her of lighting the fire to frame him and get him put back in prison.

Pender told the trial she and Greer were still legally married at the time, but separated in 2006.

She was living with her new partner when Greer started sending her messages and making phone calls from random numbers.

She was having coffee in her home early on November 9 when she heard a wooshing sound.

She looked outside to see her patio on fire and heard Greer’s voice, she said.

Giving evidence on Monday, Pender’s partner David Elder said she came into their room screaming at him, ‘‘he’s here, he’s here’’, when she discovered the fire.

He knew she was talking about Greer due to the swathe of messages sent in previous weeks.

He did not find Greer after going outside with a torch, but put out the fire himself with the garden hose.

‘‘The garden hose itself was on fire.’’ Police came and went through the front gate, but a sweep of the property showed someone had entered and left via a deer fence at the back of an ungrazed paddock, Elder said.

A pair of Crocs shoes were near the fence, he said.

Crown prosecutor Guy Carter told the jury on Monday the Crocs, one missing a strap, were worn by someone seen getting petrol in Levin before the fire.

Greer is in custody until his sentencing in November, with Judge Lance Rowe asking for pre-sentence reports to look at home detention and Greer’s mental state.