Man who harassed ex-partner fails in bid

A man who entered his former girlfriend’s home and put a tea towel in the oven has failed in his appeal against conviction.

Michael John Malone was convicted of assault, trespass, burglary and attempted arson and sentenced to four months’ community detention, 150 hours of community work and nine months’ supervision with conditions.

Malone, of Hedgehope in Southland, appealed his convictions for arson and burglary, which formed a High Court decision by Justice Gerald Nation.

Before the 2016 incident, Malone was issued with a trespass notice prohibiting him from visiting her Queenstown home. She also had police issue her former partner of 18 months a warning under the Harassment Act.

But that did little to stop Malone who, after encountering the complainant, assaulted a man she was with at a Queenstown bar on July 3, 2016. An hour later he entered her home when no-one was there, and put a tea towel in the oven before turning it to a high temperature. On the way out he picked up a bottle of whisky, but left it in the driveway.

Malone did not challenge the sentencing judge’s finding that he entered the complainant’s home, left the tea towel to burn in the oven and took a bottle of whisky.

However, his counsel argued the judge could not reasonably have found the police proved the attempted arson and burglary charges.

Justice Nation noted he and the sentencing judge were ‘‘entitled to infer’’ that Malone was involved in other cases.

That included the complainant having her car scratched, tyres punctured, petrol tank damaged, house and car spraypainted, taps left on, smashed windows and a trip-wire placed on a doorway.

Malone had also been identified on a camera outside the property smashing pot plants.

Justice Nation said when the complainant and her friend entered the home, smoke was pouring from the oven, and she was able to remove the singed tea towel and run it under water.

‘‘It was reasonable to infer that Mr Malone intended for the fire to cause the damage that would normally be expected from something that was left to burn in a confined space, either as a result of fire damage to the oven itself or through smoke damage to the room the oven was in,’’ Justice Nation said.